KARACHI: The Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) Chief Coordinator Mirza Abdul Rehman on Monday rejected the “allegations” of a clash between the Commerce Secretary and the Director General Trade Organizations (DGTO) leveled by the United Business Group.

Mirza Abdul Rehman, who is also the spokesperson for the Businessmen Panel (BMP), the ‘ruling group’ of the FPCCI, stated that the cases of the rival group are pending in the Appellant Board Secretary, DGTO and Higher Courts and instead of waiting for final rulings, the opposition is trying to “blackmail by spreading the bogus news against the high officials”. He said that opposition is not interested in resolving the issues of the business community “and they only appear on the scene at the time of elections, therefore, they are rejected by voters”.

He said that the UBG patron-in-chief S.M Munir, who was appointed as the chief executive of the TDAP in previous governments, could not show performance, as country’s exports nosedived in his period. He rejected the demand of opposition group regarding resignation of commerce advisor Razak Dawood, saying Pakistan’s exports have witnessed tremendous growth under his leadership. He said that the DGTO and court have given their rulings against spokesperson for the UBG, Gulzar Feroze, “due to his fake association membership”.

“The UBG news appeared in a daily is false, fictitious, baseless, contrary to the actual facts and yet another attempt to hide the realities and coming into power through wrong ways,” the spokesperson said.

He said that the opposition has failed to tell the business community what the FPCCI had done during its tenure to enhance trade between Pakistan and rest of the world.

He also strongly rejected various UBG claims that it had made in its tenure in the past regarding holding of seminars, FTA with China, Pak-Vietnam trade, MoUs with Turkmenistan Chamber, visit of Malaysian Prime Minister to Islamabad, etc.

He said the BMP will defeat the UBG in the upcoming FPCCI Election for the third consecutive time.—PR