KARACHI: The Kara­chi Cotton Association has expressed deep concern over the Evacuee Trust Property Board’s reluctance to implement Sindh High Court orders regarding the Cotton Exchange Building, which has been sealed by the ETPB since December 12, 2025.

The SHC had declared on June 18 that “…….the KCA shall enjoy the possession of property and continue its business activities without any disturbance”.

However, the verdict remains unimplemented, as the seven-month closure of the Building and the ‘un­lawful’ seizure of the doc­uments and computers have completely halted the KCA’s administrative operations and paralysed the businesses of its legal tenants, including key cotton traders, ginn­ers, spinners, and exporters.

This ongoing disruption has inflicted severe financial losses on KCA and individual stakeholders, and caused significant dam­age to the national economy, KCA Secretary-General Aftab Ahmed observed in a statement on Monday.

Since 1933, the KCA has held a unique position in domestic agricultural and trade infrastructure.

Unlike standard trade bodies, the KCA performs vital regulatory and operational functions, including market regulation through the official daily spot rates of cotton, dispute resolution by providing essential arbitration facilities for buy­ers and sellers, quality assurance through cotton sample testing facilities for stakeholders, capacity building through technical trai­ning courses to support the cotton trade and textile value chain, and various other vital functions related to the domestic cotton value-chain.

Published in Dawn, July 14th, 2026