Pakistan Textile Mills Association (Aptma) Sindh and Balochistan Region Chairman Zahid Mazhar has sought the Sindh government’s permission to restart textile production without further delay. Mazhar feels permission to only a few industries would not bring desired results for the economy until textile sub-sectors such as weaving, knitting, stitching and processing were also given permission to resume production. He argued that the sub-sectors provided intermediary material to complete the business cycle of the textile export industry, hence, it was vital for them to resume operations.

Mazhar said in the wake of a lockdown in Sindh, the industry was facing severe liquidity problem due to which it was not in a position to even pay utility bills and salaries of employees.

He reminded the provincial government that Karachi produced about 52 per cent of the country’s total exports and the lockdown was causing heavy losses to industries in the city. He recommended that in order to save Karachi, the government needed to adopt a smart lockdown policy allowing the complete textile value chain to operate while abiding with the SOPs.