The Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) elections for Corporate Class to be held on Tuesday (today) wherein around 1,942 corporate members would use their right of voting.
PIAF-Founders Alliance candidates for Corporate Class Mian Abuzar Shad, Kasif Younas Meher, Shahzeb Akram, Ahmad Hasnain, Raees A. Sheikh, Hasnain Reza Mirza, Syed Mehmood Ghaznavi and Shoaib Zahid Malik would contest for eight seats of Corporate Class while 24 former presidents of LCCI have announced their full support for the corporate as well as associate class candidates.
Former Presidents LCCI Mian Tajammal Hussain, M. Amin Agha, Ejaz Butt, Arshad Saeed, Mian Shahzada Alam Monoo, Syed Mohsin Raza Bukhari, Mushtaq Ahmad, Mohammad Arshad Naeem, Tariq Hameed, Iftikhar Ali Malik, Mian Mohammad Ashraf, Salahuddin Ahmad Sahaf, Mohammad Ishaq Dar, Bashir A. Baksh, Sheikh Saleem Ali, Ilyas M. Chaudhry, Sheikh Mohammad Asif, Mian Anjum Nisar, Mian Misbah-ur-Rehman, Mian Shafqat Ali, Shahid Hassan Sheikh, Mohammad Ali Mian, Mian Muzaffar Ali and Zafar Iqbal Chaudhry have pledged to support the PIAF-Founders Alliance candidates for the LCCI Election 2011-12 for Corporate and Associate Class.
They said that the Alliance of Founders and PIAF has strengthened the business community. The alliance is playing its role for the promotion of trade and industry and all concerned government circles, particularly bureaucracy, is forced to listen to the voice of the businessmen.
The former presidents of the LCCI said that PIAF-Founders Alliance has left no stone unturned to serve the cause of business community. Highlighting the LCCI one-year activities, they said that the alliance has set the trend of accountability and made the LCCI affairs transparent. The LCCI is constructing 100 houses in the flood-hit areas of District Layyah while 50 houses have already been given to the victims of floods. The LCCI has also dispatched goods of worth millions of rupees in the different flood-affected areas of the country, they said.
They said that in response to FICCI's aggressive stance in their annual report, wherein they had recommended using water as a tool against Pakistan, the LCCI forced FICCI to withdraw that report. They said that the LCCI successfully convinced the government to avoid imposition of Reformed General Sales Tax (RGST) or any other new taxes as the economy, trade and industry are facing multiple internal and external challenges. The PIAF-Founders Alliance also introduced an Amnesty scheme for the LCCI members so that maximum number of businessman could avail the facilities being offered by the LCCI. The PIAF-Founders Alliance strongly protested against the prolonged electricity and gas load shedding and discrimination with Punjab in gas supply and demanded to stop unannounced load shedding immediately and distribute the available gas in four provinces in proportion to population. As a result of LCCI protest, the government stopped unannounced loadshedding and issued a schedule of loadshedding to all the industrial estates.
The LCCI also organised language courses, computer classes, signed an MoU with provincial government to make Lahore risk free, got approval of Export Development (EDF) for language courses and introduced subsidize food scheme for the LCCI low income staff members.
They said that the PIAF-Founders Alliance has written innumerable success stories with the support of business community. They said that the LCCI members should cast their vote in the favor of PIAF-Founders Alliance as the Alliance leadership has made an effort to introduce experienced representatives of the business community as their candidates. Earlier, the business community of Kasur has also announced its support for the PIAF-Founders Alliance candidates in the LCCI elections.