ISLAMABAD - Pakistans textile exports are feared to face another setback as All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA) is thinking to observe countrywide strike within the next couple of weeks, sources informed TheNation on Thursday. According to the sources, the power and gas outages have badly hit the said industry, while the Ministry of Textile Industry remained apathetic to these problems despite several SOS calls from the representatives of the industry. APTMA had several times asked Federal Minister for Textile Industry Rana Farooq Saeed Ahmad Khan to resolve the crises like power and gas shortages, besides asking him to issue the remaining SRO which were announced in the first ever textile policy for the next five years (2009-14). APTMA in next few days would call a meeting of its members, which would decide about the strike and make future strategy. However, the final decision would be taken after consultations with all the members of association, sources further informed. It is important to mention here that the Federal Minister for Textile Industry met Federal Minister for Water and Power Raja Pervaiz Ashraf and Federal Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources Syed Naveed Qamar last week to discuss the ongoing power and gas crises but no fruitful outcome came from the said meeting. According to the sources, more than 250 textile units are presently suffering from gas shortage at a time when the winter has not started yet. The government didnt give any prior notification for gas loadshedding and it was started before time, the sources revealed. The aim of the strike would be to remind the government of its promises made in textile policy that textile sector would be exempted from power and gas loadshedding, sources disclosed and added if the current situation remained continue for the next few months, the exports would decreased by $ 2 to $ 3 billion in this year. Chairman All Pakistan Textile Mills Association, while addressing a press conference the other day, said if the present situation did not improve, more than 2 million people would render their jobs, besides missing the annual exports target. He also said it was ironical that mills ran for seven months in a year due to shortage of gas.