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ISLAMABAD: Tens of thousands of workers have lost their jobs as over 50,000 power looms shut down in Pakistan’s Faisalabad district over two years due to soaring electricity prices, an industry stakeholder said over the weekend, with officials pledging to explore viable solutions.

Power looms are mechanized devices that automate the weaving process. Faisalabad, located in Pakistan’s populous Punjab province, is the hub of the country’s textile industry, housing 125,000 power looms in its industrial zone.

The sector produces nearly 91% of Pakistan’s grey cloth, which also sells well in international market.

“In the last two years, over 200,000 workers have been rendered jobless in Faisalabad after the closure of some 50,000 power looms,” Saeed Ahmad, deputy secretary of the All Pakistan Cotton Power Looms Association, told Arab News. “The remaining industry is also on the verge of closure due to inefficient government policies.”

Ahmad said the hike in electricity prices over the last two years was the major factor behind the closures, as the per-unit cost of power had risen from Rs19 to Rs55, along with additional taxes.

“This is a small industry, and people cannot afford to pay millions in electricity bills each month,” he said, adding that the additional cost of doing business, such as higher interest rates, had also reached double digits.

Ahmad noted that while some power loom owners had switched to solar energy to run their industrial units, the option was prohibitively expensive for most.

“If you have to run the power loom, you cannot disconnect from the national grid because the solar station won’t work on cloudy days,” he explained.

Ahmad urged the government to lower electricity prices and provide loans to the industry to keep it operational.

“The power loom industry has been contributing to the national economy through textile exports, but the government is not willing to provide incentives to keep it afloat,” he said.

Speaking to Arab News, Javed Iqbal Malik, senior economic adviser to Punjab’s Industries, Commerce, Investment and Skills Development Department, acknowledged that the cost of doing business has increased due to a spike in electricity tariffs.

“I am not aware of the exact scale of the closure of power looms in Faisalabad, but one thing is for sure that the cost of doing business has increased and many businesses, including manufacturing, have become uneconomical, he said.

“We will look into the issue and discuss it with the industry to find out some viable solutions as this industry is vital for textile exports and economy,” he added.

Khurram Shahzad, a senior economist, said Pakistan’s economy had faced significant hardships in the last two years as the country narrowly avoided sovereign debt default, which also impacted the manufacturing sector.

“The manufacturing sector, including the power looms industry, has been affected by three factors: the interest rate, energy costs and taxes, all of which hit record highs in the last two years,” he told Arab News.

Shahzad noted that while the interest rate had declined in recent months, it remained in double digits.

He added that the government was promising to lower electricity tariffs to ease the cost of doing business.

“Taxes on the formal sector are expected to be reduced in the coming months with the stabilization of the economy, and this will help the manufacturing sector grow,” he said.

ISLAMABAD: A two-month ban on public gatherings has been imposed in Pakistan’s federal capital, Islamabad, a notification from the district magistrate said on Monday, days ahead of a planned protest march by the party of jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan.

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party (PTI) announced last week it would lead a ‘long march’ to the capital on Nov. 24 over alleged rigging in Feb. 8 general elections and to call for the release of political prisoners, including Khan, and in support of the independence of the judiciary.

The party’s recent rallies and marches have been thwarted by similar bans on public gatherings imposed under Section 144 of the Pakistan Penal Code which allows the government to prohibit various forms of political assembly, gatherings, sit-ins, rallies, demonstrations, and other activities for a specified period.

In a notification dated Nov. 18, the district magistrate, without naming the PTI, said processions being planned in the capital “can disrupt public place and tranquility and keeping in view the current law & order and security environment, it is necessary to control such types of illegal activities which present a threat to public peace, tranquility and maintenance of law & order.”

He added that the demonstrations would cause “public annoyance or injury, endanger human life and safety, pose a threat to public property, and may lead to a riot or an affray including sectarian riot within the revenue/territorial limits of district Islamabad.”

In light of this, all gatherings of more than five people are banned in the capital, the notification said:

“This order shall come into force with immediate effect and shall remain in force for a period of TWO MONTHS.” 

Khan has been in jail since August 2023 and has faced dozens of cases since he was removed as prime minister in 2022 after which he launched a protest movement against a coalition of his rivals led by current Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and backed by the all-powerful military, which denies interfering in politics. 

Khan says cases against him, which disqualified him from contesting the February elections, are politically motivated. His party has held several protest rallies in recent months to build public pressure for its leader’s release.

With regards to the latest protest, the PTI’s first demand is a rollback of recent constitutional amendments like the 26th amendment that the PTI says is an attempt to curtail the independence of the senior judiciary. It is also calling for the release of party leaders and supporters and a return of what it describes as a “stolen mandate” after Feb. 8 general elections.

Pakistan’s government denies being unfair in its treatment of Khan and his party and the election commission rejects allegations the elections were rigged. The government also says recent amendments related to the judiciary are meant to smooth out its functioning and tackle a backlog of cases.