LAHORE - Business and economic activities across the provincial capital came to a halt soon after the massive blast shattered the entire City as various high-level meetings at the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry were cancelled while the panicky traders closed down their businesses. Countrys leading economists were addressing a pre-budget seminar at the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry on Wednesday morning when the powerful blast hit the busiest locality of the provincial metropolis, shattering windowpanes of the multi-storey business center and confidence of the businessmen. The blast occurred outside the police emergency service (Rescue 15) headquarter, situated about half a kilometer away from the LCCI building, where Federal Minister for Commerce Makhdoom Amin Fahim and Provincial Finance Minister Tanvir Ashraf Kaira were expected to arrive to attend the seminar. All the business activities were stopped as huge bomb blast shocked every one inside the building. We thought that the rooftop of the LCCI building has caved in, an employee of the business center commented. Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif was scheduled to address the leading businessmen and industrialists at the LCCI on Wednesday evening but the management also cancelled this meeting after the bomb blast, citing security concerns. The traders in most of the top business centers and commercial markets closed down their shops immediately after the deadliest suicide car-blast that rocked the City. The frightened traders at the Mall Road, Hall Road and other nearby shopping and commercial centers shut their businesses soon after the deadliest attack while traffic disappeared from the roads. Meanwhile, the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) while condemning the suicide attack in the strongest possible terms demanded of the government to revamp intelligence and security system in the country. In a statement issued on Wednesday, the LCCI President Mian Muzaffar Ali, Senior Vice President Tahir Javed Malik and Vice President Irfan Iqbal Sheikh said that blast under the very nose of law enforcement agencies is a big failure of the security network and is an eye opener for those who are sitting at the helm of affairs. They said that special measures are needed to cope with deteriorating law and order situation as anti-social elements are hell-bent to destabilize Pakistan for their ulterior motives. They said that the sequence of incidents one after the other seem to be the part of a well thought-out plan against Pakistan. They said the suicide blast in Lahore means that the government should find out the root-causes of all such incidents. The LCCI office-bearers said that the blast would not only tarnish the image of the country globally while it would also dent the economy of Pakistan. The LCCI office-bearers also offered Fateh for those who lost their lives in the line of duty. The Pakistan Industrial and Traders association Front (PIAF) has also condemned suicide attack in Lahore and demanded of the government to take stringent measures to nab the culprits. In a statement issued on Wednesday, the PIAF Chairman Irfan Qaiser Sheikh, Vice Chairmen Iqbal Baig Chugtai, Khawaja Shahzeb Akram and former Chairman PIAF Mian Abuzar Shad said that anti-social element were trying to destablise the country by carrying out such subversive activities. They said that the law enforcement agencies should expedite their efforts to foil the nefarious designs of the anti-social element, who are working under a well thought out plan. They said that the business community was with the government in its efforts to eliminate the menace of terrorism that has jolted the very basis of the country. They also urged the federal government to make maximum allocation in the coming budget to improve law and order situation in the country.