GUJRAT, April 22: Following the sealing of the Gujrat Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) by the provincial government, five Executive Members, including senior vice-president, have parted their company with the Shaheen Group (the ruling group of the sealed chamber) and are approaching various businessmen to form a new group, Dawn learnt here on Tuesday.

Reliable sources told this correspondent on the condition of anonymity that the ‘rebel’ executive members, after getting a green signal from the Chaudhrys, had approached various businessmen and traders to muster their support.

The names of the rebel businessmen are Amir Zafar Sheikh (the only office-bearer of the sealed chamber who still holds the office of the senior vice-president and was not declared as defunct), Muzaffar Hussain Dar, Syed Khalid Masood, Zahid Imtiaz Baba and Shabir Ahmad Joyia, sources said.

They claimed that two businessmen, Mian Ihsan and Adnan Naseem Sethi, had also joined them and assured them their full cooperation in forming the new group to be called ‘Friends Group’.

According to them, the formal announcement about the formation of the Friends Group is expected within a couple of days while Adnan Naseem Sethi is likely to become the first president or chairman of the ‘Friends Group’.

Meanwhile, the president of the Shaheen Group, Haji Nasir claimed that out of total 14 executive members, he still enjoys the support of the nine.

APPEAL: The defunct office-bearers of the GCCI are consulting various lawyers and experts to make a decision to adopt their future course of action, sources said. The defunct president Chaudhry Iftikhar told Dawn by phone that the DTO could only annul any chamber elections within 30 days after the elections. According to rules and regulations, the DTO could not make such a decision after six months, he added.