Lahore - Police and other law-enforcement agencies have confiscated containers and long vehicles in different cities of Punjab to block the main roads, leaving millions of dollars export-cargo stuck, besides putting billions of rupees export orders at stake, exporters and shipping line sources said on Sunday.
Pakistan Tanners Association (PTA) Vice Chairman Azam Malik told The Nation that the confiscation of containers and other long vehicles, carrying export goods, was causing great trouble to the importers, exporters and transporters, halting trade and industrial activities, particularly in the upcountry.
Malik said the country's bigger leather exports share came from different parts of Punjab, part of which had now been suspended due to seizure of a large number of containers. “Resultantly, their LCs will expire and their export orders might be cancelled,” he said, and added, “Police in Punjab have also snatched trucks, loaded with leather products of millions of dollars, to use as barriers against the agitators."
PTA VC further said that a large number of leather exporters were worried because they had no information about their export cargoes which the government officials had seized. “There is no clue to the whereabouts of a large number of shipments on way to the harbour, and the exporters have no idea where their containers are," he added.
He criticised the government's anti-protest strategy that caused a big financial loss to the exporters, saying the leather exporters were uncertain that whether they would be able to ship their consignments to the world markets as per schedule. Malik said the country's leather exports had already fallen and the unresolved issues might further worsen the situation.
He said that the major export commodity was falling down fast while supplies of imported raw material was also not reaching the manufacturing units since the government had laid siege to the main cities. Blaming both the government and opposition for the deteriorating state of economy, he said that the government as well as the opposition were indifferent towards the country's export crisis.
Malik, who is the leading exporter of textile and leather goods, observed that the global customers were already uncertain and annoyed by delayed shipments from Pakistan. “There are a large number of exporters whose cargoes are not insured and they may face financial loss of millions of dollars if the consignments are lost or damaged. It is totally nonsense to hijack export cargoes just to stop protests," he protested.
Meanwhile, All Pakistan Truck and Trawlers Motor Owners Association have held a protest demonstration at Ravi Road in Lahore against PTI for doing politics of agitation.
The protesters requested to the government to return the empty containers to the yards to ensure their availability for exports. “The association has received dozens of complaints about the seizure of containers,” one of the association member said.
The shipping line sources have also alleged that the provincial government officials have forcefully taken away thousands of empty containers from different yards in Lahore, Faisalabad and Multan to block the roads. “Most containers seized in Punjab were loaded with export cargo. Any untoward incident can cause losses worth millions of rupees,” one such source said.
PTA Chairman Anjum Zafar has also opposed the seizure of containers by police for blocking roads in Punjab, saying the move is hampering export activities seriously.
He urged the government to immediately release all the containers stuck up on the roads so that the containers could proceed to Karachi port smoothly.
Ferozepur Road Welfare Industrial Organization (FRWO) former chairman Adeeb Iqbal Sheikh has also expressed grave concern over confiscation of export containers en-route to and from Karachi Port by the police and other agencies in Punjab.
Iqbal expressed the fear that huge foreign orders risked cancelation due to such move by the government, which would not only result in huge losses to the exporters but also to the national exchequer.
"We are worried about the safety of our vehicles owing to the bad experiences in the past, as mobs have burnt dozens of containers during protests in the past, causing losses worth millions of rupees to the goods as well as the transporters," he added.
Lahore Chamber of Commerce & Industry President Abdul Basit has urged the authorities concerned to use only empty containers for necessary blockade, as the containers filled with flammable material could cause any untoward incident.
PTA Vice Chairman Azam Malik has appealed to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to immediately issue directives for the early release of containers, besides stopping seizure of leather export shipment.