KARACHI: President Zulfikar Ali Bhutto announced last night [Dec 2] that he had placed control of 10 categories of basic industries in the hands of the state “for the benefit of the people of Pakistan”. In an address to the Nation over the radio and TV network, he said the step was the beginning [of redeeming] his pledge to the people about important industrial reforms in the country.

He listed the 10 categories as follows: iron and steel industries; basic metal industries; heavy engineering; heavy electrical industries; assembly and manufacture of motor vehicles; tractor plants — assembly and manufacture; heavy and basic chemicals; petro chemical industries; cement industry; generation, transmission and distribution; gas and oil refineries.

President Bhutto said that the industries taken over bear upon the life of every citizen and form the base without which no industrial development in the real sense can take place. — News agencies

[Meanwhile, as reported by the staff correspondent from Karachi,] Swift on the heels of the Presidential Order taking over 10 basic industries, the new State appointed managing directors accompanied by magistrates and police … to take over the industrial units in Karachi … .

Published in Dawn, January 3rd, 2022