ISLAMABAD: Looking to tap into an unexplored segment of overseas Pakistanis, the Senate Standing Committee on Commerce and Textile Industry has advised the government to look out for the wealthy businessmen around the world who migrated from Pakistan soon after partition in 1947.

The recommendation aimed at encouraging foreign investment in the country has been tabled in the Senate, but it has yet to be discussed in detail by the house.

The committee has prepared a report, a copy of which is available with Dawn, on the basis of the recommendations of a sub-committee headed by PPP Senator Karim Ahmed Khawaja.

The sub-committee was set up by the main committee headed by JUI-F’s Ghulam Ali in April last year with the main task of “formulating a policy for Pakistanis, who left the country immediately after partition, to invest in the country”.

According to the report, almost five million people belonging to the Hindu, Sikh, Parsi and Christian communities left the country and migrated to India and other countries soon after partition.

“Pakistan’s neighbouring countries, especially India, are encouraging these emigrants to invest in India, instead of their ancestral lands in Pakistani Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan,” says the report.

“Such ‘beggar thy neighbour’ policies would leave a most negative impact on Pakistan’s long-term economic growth and development. Hence, it is time that Pakistan also adopt a proactive stance and encourage as well as facilitate all such emigrants to invest in their historical homeland,” it says.

The report says that Pakistan can invite a significant number of people from Sikh, Hindu, Punjabi, Parsi and Christian communities living in Canada, America, Europe, Far East and Middle East, besides the economically potent Hindu Sindhi diaspora, to invest in their native land.

“Furthermore, the Pakhtun Sikhs and Hindu Baloch working in different countries have been able to accumulate considerable amount of capital over the decades and surely this accumulated fund can be repatriated to Pakistan,” it says.

“Muslim Sindhis, Punjabis, the Pakhtun and Baloch living in Saudi Arabia and Gulf countries for 100 years can come and invest in their native homeland.”

The committee has called upon the government to highlight the cultural heritage of non-Muslims in the country so that all those non-Muslims who migrated from Pakistan “are able to develop a strong cultural, economical, social and religious bond with their homeland”.

When contacted, Karim Khawaja said the Board of Investment had already identified 431 prospective investors, including a number of those who migrated from Pakistan soon after partition. He, however, said the names were being kept “confidential” due to a number of reasons.

The committee has recommended that an investment conference be arranged in the UAE which could be fruitful to encourage expatriate Pakistanis and foreign investors to exploit investment opportunities in Pakistan.

It has included in its recommendations a specific proposal of Senator Haji Saifullah Bangash to promote religious tourism in the country. “The water of Hassanabdal is considered to be quite reverent by the Sikh community and thus Pakistan can profit financially by ensuring the provision of the water to Sikh pilgrims. This proposal would not only bring in much-needed foreign exchange but would also strengthen the cultural and religious bond which the Sikh diaspora has with the Pakistani Punjab.”

The committee has recommended opening of Khokhrapar-Munabao, Badin-Kach and Kathiawar routes in Sindh for trade, commerce, tourism, people-to-people contact, just like Wagah border. “In addition to Wagah, other routes in Punjab should also be opened for trade with India.”

It has also called for encouraging trade routes between Balochistan and Iran, between Gilgit-Baltistan and China and Central Asia and between Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Fata and Afghanistan.

Published in Dawn, November 10th, 2014