Tug-of-war: G-B Chamber of Commerce shut over internal row

Differences arose after last year’s elections, which some allege was ‘engineered’.

GILGIT: The office of Gilgit-Baltistan Chamber of Commerce and Industry has been temporarily closed due to a row between two groups over the organisation’s elections held last year.

“The office was closed on the orders of the Gilgit deputy commissioner,” an official of the chamber said on Wednesday.

According to insiders, the two groups—led by Javed and Raki—developed differences over last year’s chamber elections. Federal Commerce Minister Khurram Dastagir also visited Gilgit last year on the invitation of the Javed group to sort out differences plaguing the organisation, sources added.

The election was won by the Javed group and its leader Javed Hussain became the president of the chamber. However, the Raki group refused to accept the results, saying the polls were engineered. They approached a local court which directed them to file a case with the Director General Trade Organisations (DGTO). The case was upheld by the authority which ordered fresh elections after the fulfillment of legal formalities.

“Fresh elections will now be held, but the groups aren’t on the same page,” the official told The Express Tribune, requesting anonymity. “One group wanted to open the office while the other was against it. This has caused the two parties to go head-to-head,” he said. “Their tug-of-war led to the resignations of the secretary and deputy secretary of the chamber of commerce as they were unable to throw their support behind a particular group.”

Published in The Express Tribune, February 26^th, 2015.