President UNISAME Zulfikar Thaver speaking on the occasion of the World Anti Corruption Day at UNISAME office said the business community was morally and ethically bound to fight against corruption which was increasing and needed to be curbed.
“The anti corruption organization alone cannot achieve much without the support of the business community. The businessmen need to voice concern collectively and pressurize the government to take strict action against the miscreants and deal with them with an iron hand. Secondly, the business community should resolve not to oblige the corrupt officials and refrain from bribery to get their work done,” Thaver said.
He lamented that the businessmen were not reporting crime due to fear of victimization and said it was very necessary to report the crime for the prosecution and to measure the rate under each station house officer (SHO) so that the head of police department could warn him and demote him if necessary. “Corruption is making life miserable for the businessmen and the corrupt persons are not even sparing the small businessmen and demanding gratification”
He said: “The entrepreneurs are feeling unsafe due to the gangsters who are demanding extortion money and are threatening to kidnap and kill them on refusal. Street crime has increased and every second person is complaining of having been robbed. The dacoits and thieves are operating in broad daylight and it seems that the police is ill-equipped to deal with them as they have better arms than the police. There are reports of the policemen involved in crime.Shops, offices, factories and houses are looted in broad daylight and the dacoits have become very bold and are operating fearlessly. The situation is very alarming and the businessmen are feeling unsafe and unsecured.”
Thaver urged the government to grant permission to the business community to hire licensed private detectives to investigate and identify the criminals. “Secondly for the support of the SMEs, it is recommended that an SME liaison committee (SME-LC) be established to enable them to have collective protection squads in markets and industrial areas and also to enable them report the crime through the SME-LC without fear of harassment by the police,” Thaver concluded.