QUETTA: The manifestos announced by the political parties have failed to inspire the business community of Balochistan which fears a new wave of price hike, mounting inflation, and rising unemployment in the days ahead. Business leaders in the province, however, hasten to add that the outgoing government was no different as it had also not done anything except carrying out a highly personalized agenda. Describing the government of Shaukat Aziz as that of technocrats, they blame it for “destroying the agro-based economy of the country”.

Sardar Mohammad Ali Jogezai, a former vice-president of the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industries (FPCCI), is of the view that both politicians and technocrats are interested in their access to the seat of power. Beyond that, they have little idea of what to do for the country, he believes.

Leading businessman and industrialist Khalifa Tahir Ahmed rejects the manifestos, arguing that they are all silent about the basic issues of affecting industry, trade and economy. General (retired) Pervez Musharraf, he says, had all the power to do anything he liked, but he used that power to impose emergency “just for protecting his personal interests”, instead of doing something to boost the economy. As a result, Pakistan is importing wheat, cotton and sugar today despite government claims of having bumper crops, says the former head of the Balochistan Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

President of the Balochistan Economic Forum Sardar Shaukat Aziz Popalzai is of the view that a number of serious economic issues are set to greet the new government because the political forces in the country, particularly in Balochistan, have spent all their energies for democratic freedom and this has given them little time to focus on the economic compulsions that they are soon going to face.

Senior industrialist Kamaluddin Ahmed is not hopeful about the future of the government and of the assemblies that would come into being after the elections, and believes that the country would suffer another election within a few months. “Elections are being held to elect an assembly that will endorse the amendments made by President Musharraf in the Constitution,” he says.

His views are countered by Javed Rahim Paracha, the sitting BCCI President, who is optimistic about the future government, saying that the elected government will be able to resolve the problems being faced by the people, including those of the business community. “People feel confident after electing a democratic government and they feel no hesitation in investing their capital in business under such a dispensation,” he says. He is also optimistic that political parties would sincerely implement their manifestos once the yare in office. His word of advice for the naysayer is simple: nothing happens overnight.

Away from the big business, traders and shopkeepers in the provincial capital are expecting a hung parliament, which, they stress, is not going to be able to resolve the problems being faced by them. Naved Bukhari, who deals in embroidered garments at his shop on the Jinnah Road, says the problems being faced by his community cannot be resolved by a coalition government because it is only a recipe of having too many cooks who, as the maxim goes, often end up spoiling the broth!