The industrial and business community is at a crossroads. The present position is that they have this feeling that things in this country are working against them. They have this feeling that their very survivability is at stake. They have this feeling that they have lost whatever ground they had achieved in the last some years. A situation has developed where it seems that the businessmen are damned if they do anything and damned even if they do not do anything.

The business community has never had a strong voice in the corridors of power. In the Parliament, there are relatively very few members who could be classified as businessmen or industrialists. Traditionally, this community has been apolitical and whatever influence it had was thru its financial and moral support to the established candidates representing major political parties. One very important reason for this approach is, in fact, due to the very nature of politics in Pakistan, where the ruling party is "us" and anybody against it is "them". These "them" are always considered anti-Pakistan, criminals, cheats, and what not, and thus there is always open season for the minions of the ruling party to indulge in opposition-bashing. It is precisely for this reason that the businessmen have also maintained a sideline posture when it came to politics.

However, like any other group, they are "closet politicians", and like the landed aristocracy, prefer to play on both sides of the fence. They covertly provide the required means to the ruling party as well as the opposition and this may also be due to their being susceptible to pressure or strong-arm tactics, or for that matter they may have their skeletons in the closet, and they are keen to keep them lying there. It has also been the norm to show eager support to whichever party is in the driving seat. Circumstances compel the businessmen to adopt this posture.

The stalwarts of the industrial and business community will invariably fawn over and flatter the hierarchy of the ruling party. They will leave no stone unturned in getting the Prime Minister or the strategic ministers, such as of Commerce or Finance, to their meetings and conferences. It is a common sight to see them at dinners and lunches going gaga over them, professing their support to the party’s manifesto, and at the same time proving their undying loyalty to the party. These are the "Commercial Lotas". Even the government takes advantage of this and will offer bait to these businessmen to join the party or to keep on supporting it. Many businessmen know which side of the bread is buttered and they will strive to squeeze maximum benefit out of this relationship.

The best way for any businessman to get into the good (or bad) books of the government is to become someone "important" in the various Chambers and Associations. Those who take this seriously can in a few years become "godfathers" of these organizations and can then "control" these organizations to their own advantage. Thus there is always a dogfight for top positions in FPCCI, KCCI, and other Chambers etc. Of course, some of these Associations have become "family-oriented", and the Chairmanship of these Associations is rotated between two brothers. In most of the Chambers, the "ruling group" maneuvers to stay in power, and the way they do is to have a staff who is compliant and loyal, not to the Chamber or the general body, but unabashedly to these "godfathers".

The leaders of the business community generally tend to play it safe when it comes to dealing with the ruling party, even in these days of democracy and freedom of expression. However, lately, the community has tried to show its wings. Under the auspices of the FPCCI, the apex body of all industrialists and businessmen, the country witnessed closure of all trade and industry activity for a couple of days, not too long ago. However, the government played hardball and threw out the top hierarchy of FPCCI out of their offices. Pragmatism and the need to enjoy the perks of office brought these leaders out of their stance and pretty soon, they were re-instated, how, only they or Minister Mukhtar can reveal.

Lately, the Anjuman-e-Tajiran, led by Haji Maqsood Butt, PML (N), MPA, has been agitating against certain initiatives taken by CBR. Under the new democratic order, everyone can go on strike, even at an hour’s notice. Thus these small businessmen and traders, especially in Punjab, have been very vocal and belligerent in their campaign to bring CBR into its senses. However, the Lady ruling the roost in Islamabad is also adamant and has, probably, issued strict orders to let these traders carry on with their strikes and processions and that the CBR should find evidence to rein in these rebel businessmen.

The present campaign of these traders is mostly run thru strikes, processions, banners, and press conferences, with some of them going on hunger strikes. It seems that this time, they are not willing to fork out cash to have a media blitz a la the famous SICORLO, a body of industrialists and businessmen set up in 1990 under the umbrella of the bigwigs of APTMA. At that time, SICORLO issued advertisement on a daily basis to making fervent appeals for the restoration of law and order. Millions of rupees were spent, and this campaign proved so effective that the government had to step in, literally pleading that this "sob-story" was giving a notorious reputation to the country and that it could turn out to be counter-productive in the long run. Things did improve for a short time thereafter. Only for a very short time, and then the country was back into the doldrums, law and order-wise.

The present economic scenario and the recessionary trends in the country alongwith cost increases, coupled with low demand, uncertain business conditions, decrease in export orders, uncertainty of the rupee-dollar parity, and the deteriorating law and order situation, not to mention the upsurge in strike calls, have brought businessmen into a frenzy. Their long-term planning has gone to the dogs while in the short run, the capital crunch is proving disastrous. The stock exchange is going down like a roller coaster and the newspapers have come out with articles and news items bemoaning the lack of further progress in many of the MOUs signed by this government. In Islamabad, the economy is on the lower strata of the government’s agenda, it so seems, and people like Shahid Hasan Khan and V.A.Jaffery etc have gone into the background.