KARACHI: The Towel Manufacturers’ Association of Pakistan (TMA) has lodged a protest with the government for not inviting them to a meeting called for Dec 8 with the textile sector stakeholders.

In a message, Towel Manufacturers’ Association chairman Feroze Alam Lari pointed out that by ignoring towel manufacturersand exporters the National Assembly secretariat had deprived TMA members of giving an input on a sensitive issue, Law of Bill of Lading.

He urged the NA Secretariat to immediately postpone the meeting and send agenda to them so that the association could discuss the same with its members and give proper input before finalising any law.

He further said that notices issued to various trade bodies clearly indicate that all segments of trade have been invited to the forthcoming meeting. However, it is difficult to understand as to why TMA’s name has been dropped from the list. Mr Lari was critical about the performance of the Ministry of Textile and said that the sector which exports over $1 billion per annum was ignored by the ministry in a recent meeting called with the textile stakeholders.

He said that a meeting called by the Textile Ministry on Dec 1 was loaded with important agenda, including discussion on proposed MFN status to India, review of textile performance for July to October and briefing on textile policy initiatives and disbursements.

However, he said the Ministry of Textile which is supposed to know about each and every segment of textile sector operating under its umbrella also proved to be incompetent and ignorant.

The TMA chief said if ministries and other important government departments keep ignoring important segments of trade, it would result in faulty and ineffective policies and may cause harm rather than benefiting trade and exports of the country.