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No reason now for

flight of capital or

shifting industry: Babar

RECORDER REPORT

KARACHI: Now there should be no flight of capital or the shifting of industry from Karachi to any other place, since the normalcy is fast returning to the city, Maj-Gen (Rtd) Naseerullah Khan Babar, Federal Interior Minister, said in Karachi on Saturday.

Addressing a press conference at the State Guest House, the Minister said there were reports about the flight of capital and shifting of industrial units from Karachi to up-country locations due to lawlessness in the city. The city is fast returning to normal and the economic activities are now gaining momentum, he added.

Babar said that some industrial units were also shifted from Nooriabad industrial estate situated on the Super Highway to places upcountry in the past. Now, the industrialists should feel secure due to the steps taken by the government and there should be no shifting of industrial units, he said.

He expressed satisfaction that the activity at the Karachi Stock Exchange had also picked up and during the last few days the index had gone up to over 1800 points. The share market will be more buoyant during the next few days, he predicted.

He said that Karachi is the port city and its economic importance could hardly be overemphasised.

To a question, he denied that Karachi would be handed over to the Federal Government. There was a mini-insurgency against the state. The federal government assisted the provincial government. "I am only the coordinator between the provincial and the federal government".

He said he did not interfere in the working of the Sindh Government.

The minister said that aerial photographs of the whole of Karachi had been taken in which any house in the city can be identified easily.