KARACHI, July 5: A loud whisper moving around the business circles, which is being communicated to people at large, perhaps from a well-organised network, conveys a lot that should put the elected-PPP government of last more than 100 days in Islamabad and in Karachi on defensive.

“In last three weeks, sons of three prominent business families in Karachi were picked up and released on ransom payment,” a well-known textile exporter rang up to convey this message.

He named the three kidnapped persons and the families to which they belonged but he was unsure of the amount paid as ransom and how it was paid. There was not a word on media on these happenings. Crime is on the rise in interior of Sindh, where merchants mostly Hindus are getting threatening letters with a demand for payment.

The flour millers in Karachi were more than blunt to identify a “private force” closely linked to a Sindh cabinet minister that has been extorting about Rs15 million everyday from them on transportation of about 3,000 to 3,500 tons of wheat a day from upcountry to the city.

“In last two months or so we paid about Rs600 to Rs700 million to this private force that control more than a dozen checkposts set up on about 300 miles stretch of highway from Nawabshah to Karachi,” one of the flour millers whispered in the ears of a few journalists.

On pretext of wheat procurement of about 0.6 million tons, the Sindh government had put a restriction on inter-district movement of wheat and was allowing transportation against official permits from selected two or three districts.

The flour mills pulled down shutters in protest on Friday and the provincial government is reported to have instantly withdrawn the restriction of inter- district movement of wheat in the province. As a result, the wheat price in open market is now down from Rs2,450 for a 100 kg bag to Rs2,000 and market sources look for a further slide and substantial relief for consumers.

“This relief has come only after having paid about Rs700 million as extortion money to a private force against which no action has been taken,” remarked a grain merchant in Jodia Bazaar.

This drop in open market rate of wheat corroborates millers’ accusation that some powerful people in Sindh government made quick and easy money from the unjustified, illegal and unconstitutional restriction on wheat movement.

Industrialists and traders now complain of receiving more telephone calls from various federal and provincial government agencies that demand “uncalled for information and unnecessary details of our business” and by all means intend to harass them.

Textile is the largest segment of industry and business. It is under a lot of stress because of mounting pressures from increase in tariff of utilities, bank rates, labour charges. And as if all these were not enough, the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) pushed up gas rate by 31 per cent on general industry and 68 per cent for captive power plants.

The big business in Pakistan had never been happy with the elected popular governments, particularly of the PPP, is a fact which is hard to deny. The relatively small businesses—traders, retailers, transporters and millers—echo what big business has to say about the elected government’s policies.

In last 25 years or so when inflation remained on high and hundreds of thousands of employees were thrown out of job, there is no instance of any trade union or labour union having given a call for strike. But the chambers of commerce and industry and trade associations observed strikes against taxes and levies and even brought out protest rallies against law and order situation when elected governments were in command.

These days, the entire textile industry from Karachi to Faisalabad is up in protest against gas price hike. The flour millers pulled down shutters on Friday. The transporters are threatening a wheel-jam strike.

When inflation is back-breaking and unemployment is touching new heights, there is not a single trade union to give a call even to put on black bands on shoulders or hoist black flags.

Even extension of two more years exemption from capital gains tax on pure speculative shares trading in stock exchange by the PPP-government without even consulting cabinet, what to talk of parliament, has not amused the big businesses.

The government’s plea in extending two years moratorium on exemption from capital gains tax was to preempt any turmoil in stock exchange. The turmoil did come even after this concession of granting tax exemption to the richest people of Pakistan. And the irony is that the big business remains hostile to the popularly elected government.

“I am exploring the idea of taking my 35 million dollar small textile unit from Export Processing Zone in Karachi to Vietnam or some other place where cost of doing business is less and there are not as many hassles as these are here,” owner of a textile unit conveyed in a telephonic call.

“I came here from Dubai about seven years ago in anticipation that business conditions might have changed,” he recalled and said that he was not disappointed and made good money. “But things are again changing for worse and I am serious to migrate again,” he remarked and regretted about 800 persons, who would be losing job directly and many more would be affected indirectly.

“This government will not achieve a single budgetary target it has set for 2008-09,’’ Tariq Sayeed, a well-known business leader said in a private conversation while lauding former prime minister Shaukat Aziz and his team, who achieved every target in last seven years.

When informed that Mr. Aziz and his team was not able to achieve a sustainable growth and that it failed to control rising trend of inflation for last three years and could not visualise the expanding trade gap to alarming levels three years ago, Tariq Sayeed cited the government’s achievements during 2000-01 to 2006-07 of overall growth of seven per cent, revenue generation from Rs375 billion to more than one trillion rupees and of course the phenomenal growth in stock exchange business volume.

Despite all stress and unprecedented inflationary pressures on people at large, the PPP-government wants withdrawal of all subsidies on petroleum products before next December. It is already showing an all-round impact and putting the poorest of poor in more distress.