KARACHI: Women chambers, small traders, and district chambers in Karachi have raised a serious alarm over a bill tabled by MQM-P’s MNA Farooq Sattar in the National Assembly seeking to amend the Trade Organisation Rules (TOR) 2013, warning that it could shutdown around 130 district chambers nationwide and cause a severe blow to small and medium businesses.
Speaking at a press conference held at the Karachi Press Club, FPCCI Vice President Asif Sakhi, flanked by Sahabzadi Maheen Khan of the Women Chamber (Federation), Sharjeel Goplani, Head of All City Tajir Ittehad Association, Arshad Khursheed, Chairman All Pakistan Customs Agents Association (APCAA), and other trade representatives, said the proposed legislation would eliminate district-level chambers and restrict registration to city-wise chambers only — a move they described as economically catastrophic.
The speakers were quick to point out what they called a glaring contradiction: Farooq Sattar himself had championed the cause of district chambers when TOR 2013 was originally introduced, yet has now tabled a bill to dismantle the very framework he once supported.
“Presenting a bill against district chambers while speaking in favor of city chambers will cause irreparable damage to the country’s economy,” Sakhi said, adding that the Karachi Chamber of Commerce alone cannot address the problems of the city’s entire business community.
Maheen Khan warned that the proposed amendment would eliminate as many as 30 Women’s Chambers operating across the country, wiping out an institutional structure that has taken years to build.
She said that First Lady Aseefa Bhutto Zardari has been actively supporting Women Chambers, and added that the President of Pakistan, Asif Ali Zardari, had also spoken in their favor, assuring them that the chambers would not be abolished.
Goplani was particularly vocal in his criticism, alleging that the Karachi Chamber of Commerce is “afraid of the district economy formula.”
Goplani also argued that the lack of proper development of district chambers is one of the key reasons Pakistan’s exports have stagnated.
“If we want to achieve economic growth, we have to work on the district economy formula,” he said.
Sakhi, meanwhile, said that since the matter is currently under discussion in the National Assembly, this issue would not be taken to court.
He also confirmed that a briefing on the bill is scheduled before the NA Standing Committee on the 23rd of February, and they are planning to participate in the proceedings to present the traders’ case.
The trade community has called on lawmakers to reject the bill, stressing that district chambers serve as the economic backbone of local commerce and that their elimination would particularly devastate small and medium-sized enterprises that lack the clout or resources to be represented at the city chamber level.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2026
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