KARACHI, March 22: The Sindh government, in a late wake up call on March 19, just a day before US attack on Iraq, has asked the industrialists and manufacturers to optimize their production capacity continuously and make availability of desired quantity of production, especially in defence related items, in case of any emergency.

In a message, termed as ‘top most priority’ to various chambers, just one day ahead of US attack on Iraq, the Ministry of Industries, Sindh has urged its Industry Directorate to monitor the situation very closely.

The letter says, “as is well known — the situation in Iraq is fast changing and prospects of war are looming large. The prevailing position warrants all possible pre-emptive measures to ensure availability of sufficient stocks of the essential commodities.”

President Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI), Mian Nasser Hyatt Maggo has expressed surprise over the lethargic attitude of the Sindh Industry Ministry in taking pre-emptive measures in a situation that can take an ugly turn any day.

“Talk of pre-emptive measures, after the war has started, does not make much sense. It is time for fire fighting rather than pre-emptive measures,” the KCCI chief reported to have replied to the Sindh’s Industry and Commerce Department on Saturday.

On optimizing production capacity and making available desired quantity of production, especially in defence related items, he pointed to the Sindh government that some essential commodities require imported raw materials, the procurement of which entails considerable time lag sometimes a few months to arrive.

“Industries and manufacturing units dependent on imported raw materials and we cannot do anything now,” Maggo said.

“We wonder why this was not done earlier as the war clouds were looming large for quite some time now,” he said.

He said the chamber will nevertheless advise its members to take emergent steps to produce required quantities of essential items on war footings to cater to the national requirements.

He informed the Industry Department that the chamber has not been provided the list of essential items which the ministry has claimed to have provided to the KCCI.

The KCCI chief said that the industries ministry has not called any meeting with the KCCI or other trade bodies to discuss at length the availability of essential items during war with Iraq.