SIALKOT, Nov 13: Due to prolonged US-led military operation in Afghanistan and the terror attacks in America, about 63 per cent decline has been observed in the total exports from Sialkot, putting the future of hundreds of small and medium enterprizes (SMEs) in jeopardy.

This was stated by the heads of various trade bodies including Sialkot Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI), Pakistan Leather Manufacturers Association, Surgical Instruments Manufacturers Association (SIMA) of Pakistan, the Cutlery Association, Pakistan Sports Goods Association and Pakistan Gloves Manufacturers Exporters Association, at a press conference here on Tuesday.

President, Sialkot Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI), Daud Ahmad Chatta said that the economy of Pakistan in general and exports from Sialkot in particular had been worst affected after September 11, 2001. The majority of the foreign customers have cancelled their 85 per cent import orders, placed with the Sialkot business community.

He said that the export target from Sialkot was $650 million for the running fiscal year, but it is feared that it would finish at $225 million only.

No new orders have been received by the foreign customers since Sept 11, 2001, he added.

He said that no doubt all the export-oriented industries of Sialkot are in the grip of severe financial crisis and the future of the hundreds of thousands of Sialkot based SMEs, is at stake, as they have been forced to terminate the services of thousands of workers.

The SCCI president also urged the Pakistani electronic and print media to play it’s pivotal role in combating the anti-Pakistan propaganda on the international and western media, in this regard.

Chairman Pakistan sports goods association Sheikh Arif Mehmood told the newsmen that the US has given Pakistan nothing more than promises. He urged the chairman CBR to release the payments on all the duty draw back and rebate claims of Sialkot business community. These claims are pending since long at CBR. The early payments on these claims by the CBR would be helpful in ousting the export-oriented industries of Sialkot from the existing financial crisis.

Senior vice chairman of Surgical Instruments Manufacturers Association of Pakistan Aamir Riaz Bhindar said that under these perturbing and unavoidable circumstances, the Sialkot-based surgical and leather goods exporters were struggling hard for their survival.

The heads of all these main trade bodies also observed that the timely release of the payments of rebate and duty draw back claims by the CBR was vital for saving the Sialkot’s export- oriented industries from the bloody clutches of the present crisis.

Talking to the newsmen, the officials of Export Promotion Bureau said that due to the prolonged closure of various international airlines operation to Pakistan, the export consignments, weighing the thousands of tons from Sialkot, are still lying unattended at Sialkot dry port, Lahore, Islamabad and Karachi airports and seaport, waiting for their turn.

According to the statistics issued by the Sialkot business community, the total production of leather and sports goods and surgical instruments in Sialkot’s all industrial units has been dropped to 65 per cent and double shifts in the majority of the industrial units have been abandoned by the SMEs, rendering thousands of the industrial workers jobless.