HYDERABAD, Jan 4: The business community here has reminded the government that traders and industrialists had invested over Rs400 billion over the past few years and it will pay a huge amount of Rs1,025 billion in taxes during the current financial year and therefore the taxpayers are justified in demanding foolproof security.

A meeting of different trade organisations of Hyderabad held at the secretariat of Hyderabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry here on Thursday, considered the situation arising out of the brutal murder of PPP chairperson Benazir Bhutto and loot and plunder and torching of government and public property.

The president of the chamber, Haji Mohammad Yaqoob presided over the meeting.

It expressed profound sorrow and grief over the assassination of Benazir Bhutto and condemned the acts of loot, arson and vandalism.

The representatives of trade organisations expressed dissatisfaction over the security measures and demanded that police checkpost should be established at all the entry and exit points of the city as well as in business centres and in Site area which should be manned by army and Rangers.

They said that the business community has always cooperated with police and even provided motorcycles to policemen for providing protection to the business community and people, but the department had failed to maintain law and order.

The leaders of the business community said that all bazaars had been deserted due to insecurity and demanded of the administration to undertake foolproof security measures in different markets in consultation with trade organisations.

Those who attended the meeting included Mohammad Akram Arain, Nadeem Siddiqui, Turrab Ali, Ziauddin, Saleem Hussain Vohra, Haji Mohammad Aslam Shaikh and others.

NAZIM: District Nazim Kanwar Naveed Jamil has issued instructions to the police to recover all goods which were looted amid chaos following the assassination of PPP chairperson Benazir Bhutto within the minimum possible time and to arrest the plunderers.

He made it clear that criminals deserved no leniency.

He issued these directives while presiding over a meeting of the police officers here on Thursday.

Mr Kanwar said that public was suffering from a sense of insecurity and the people were losing confidence in the police department.

He said if police wanted to gain confidence of people, then it will have to evolve a foolproof security system.

The business community pulls down shutters even on rumours and one can read harassment and panic on the faces of the law abiding people, he said.

Had the police performed its duties with a sense of responsibility, the activities of the miscreants could have been checked and the losses to the government and public property would be minimal, he said.

He exhorted the police officers to ensure the recovery of the looted goods without wasting any time, but innocent people should not be harassed.

He reminded them that during Muharram-ul-Haram, some elements always tried to create sectarian rifts to destabilise the country. He said the police force should accept this challenge as the sacred month is round the corner.

According to a rough estimate, he said, 500 incidents of loot and arson had been taken place in the district and the total loss was estimated at Rs1,500 million.

Expressing dissatisfaction over the performance of police in the recovery of looted goods, the district nazim said, police must undertake concerted efforts in this regard.

He cautioned the district police that the looters were trying to transfer the looted goods and it was therefore high time to act swiftly.

He regretted that not only the government money was looted from the banks but even the lockers were broken and the lifelong savings of people were taken away.

DCO Hyderabad Aftab Ahmed Khatri, a representative of Pak army Major Riaz, representative of Rangers, Major Nadir Shah, DPO Imran Shoukat, EDO revenue Barkaat Rizvi, all the supervising police officers and revenue officers of the four talukas of the district attended the meeting.