There appears to be no let-up in the pressure on Riaz Ahmed Tata over his retaining the office of the President, Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) for 2004.
Statements continue to pour in the newspaper offices, desiring an end to the tussle, which is giving a bad name to the apex trade body.
A member of the managing committee from NWFP, Riaz Arshad, in a statement said that in terms of memoranda and articles of association of the FPCCI, at least five managing committee meetings were required to be convened during a year, but Tata "could not follow the provisions of the FPCCI by-laws due to his poor health."
He said that Tata was a sick man, and maintained that no development work had been carried out during his tenure as he spent most of his time in receiving dignitaries in the FPCCI.
Riaz Arshad said Tata could not even undertake foreign tours nor did he join the entourage of the President/Prime Minister in view of his bad health.
He claimed that the FPCCI chief did not attend a single meeting of the Export Development Fund (EDF) in Islamabad, which hampered the work of the EDF-related investment in the country, and lamented that the problems of the business community were lying unresolved.
It may be recalled that the FPCCI Vice-President, Haroon Rashid, in April last year written a letter, casting serious aspersions on the ability of Riaz Ahmed Tata to discharge his duties as President of the FPCCI.
He said: "Although we were given to understand that you had opted to assume this onerous responsibility (President, FPCCI), for one year, yet considering your health condition, it is being felt that you are not in a position to faithfully discharge your responsibilities, despite your best efforts".
He referred to the mega business event of recent years held in Islamabad in April last year, jointly sponsored by the government of Pakistan and the Islamic Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) where more than 500 businessmen, including around 300 foreign delegates were invited.
The idea was that the investment opportunities and export-potential of our industrial capacity could be projected and promoted for the benefit of our private sector in particular and the economy in general, but ironically "your good self did not participate."
It was further pointed out that in the last four months, he (Tata) took over charge of this apex trade body, but he did not attended even a single official government meeting outside Karachi, although the government had given representation to the President of the FPCCI at forums of all higher echelons of bureaucratic hierarchy.
"The President of Pakistan had included you (Tata) in his official entourage on his visit to Russia, which again you could not avail of," he said, adding Tata was invited by the Minister for Economic Affairs to attend a briefing on the development of Gwadar port and the related infra structure facilities offered, but he declined.
"Various international trade delegations have been undertaken, but you did not join any.
"We all know that the reason for your total abstention is your chronic health problem. We very sympathetically share your predicaments and pray for your Godspeed recovery. We have been given to understand that you are suffering from incorrigible bronchiectasis and this even impaired your speaking ability as it was observed that during the last few receptions of the FPCCI, including those given in honour of the Commerce Minister and Finance Minister, you were at extreme difficulty in delivering your speech because of your respiratory problems inter-linked with your disease," said Riaz Arshad.
On the intervention of senior members, it was ensured that the contents of the letter did not "leak" and the matter was hushed up to avoid embarrassment, he added.
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