LAHORE, Dec 29: The Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) will not hesitate in laying a siege to parliament if gas and electricity are not restored to the industry, particularly in Punjab.

Suspension of electricity and gas supply to industries would not only severely affect the economy but also lead to massive unemployment, said FPCCI Regional Chairman Sheikh Abdul Waheed Sandal at a press conference on Saturday.

Flanked by FPCCI Vice-President Azhar Majeed Shaikh, Sandal said the Water and Power Ministry had indefinitely suspended power supply to Punjab’s industries while the sector was already deprived of gas.

“Over 80 per cent of the industry is located in Punjab and there has been no electricity supply to mills for the last many days.

Suspension of power supply to 450 factories in Faisalabad alone has rendered thousands of workers jobless. The government has made dozens of commitments to industry, even by the president and the prime minister, during the last one month but none was fulfilled.”

“Now the business community will never trust such commitments, we want concrete and immediate steps. Bangladesh is presently exporting textile goods of $30 billion annually without producing a single bale of cotton, while Pakistan’s just $12 billion textile export is in danger due to the energy crisis despite producing 16 million cotton bales,” Azhar said.

He said Pakistan had a potential of exporting up to $32 billion textile goods.

Both FPCCI leaders said Punjab could become a ‘large graveyard’ of industry due to unavailability of energy, mismanagement and bad governance.