DUBAI // The governor of a troubled province in Pakistan is pleading with expatriate business leaders in the UAE to invest in their homeland, but his appeal has met with a mixed response.
The Federally Administered Tribal Area (Fata), which runs along the border with Afghanistan, has been a source of continuing battles between the Pakistani military, the Taliban and Al Qaeda since 2003.
Masood Kausar is the governor of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, a section of Fata. Mr Kausar and other Pakistani government officials have been appealing for support from nationals in the Emirates to help to develop the region.
"I think there are big opportunities for investment and business in Fata," said Riaz Sahi, who runs businesses including schools in Sharjah and department stores in Saudi Arabia.
"The profit margins will be much bigger there and doing business there is much easier because very few people go there to do work."
Mr Sahi played down the common perception that Fata was unstable and had many problems with law and order.
"From watching the news, you would think it was a terrible situation but that's not the case on the ground," he said. "I went there about a year ago and didn't experience any problems. There is a huge potential there."
Mr Sahi said he was preoccupied with running his existing companies but was looking into opening an electronics store in his home city of Lahore.
"I would encourage all Pakistanis to invest in their homeland," he said. "Maybe in future Fata is an area I will look at but logistically it will be easier for me to do something in Lahore than Fata at the moment."
Mobisher Rabbani, a Pakistani philanthropist and businessman in Dubai, said he could see the potential in Fata but had doubts about the current level of security in the province.
"I think the main thing would be the issue of law and order," Mr Rabbani said. "The situation has calmed down a lot recently but as a businessman you would want to be very sure that it was safe before you invested your money."
He said the potential to develop Fata was huge but he called on the Pakistani government to do more to promote the region and provide a more stable environment for people to invest there.
"I don't think at present business people in the UAE would risk investing in Fata until it is safer," Mr Rabbani said. "The government needs to do more to make that happen."
This week, the Pakistani newspaper The Nation reported a delegation of 20 expatriate businessmen from the UAE had visited Fata to encourage more trade. They also visited Mr Kausar.
"It's a good opportunity for investment, as the situation in Fata is fast heading towards normalcy and the government is set to support them all the way," the governor told The Nation.
Mr Kausar admitted law and order issues were blocking development, but said the situation was much better than it had been and was moving towards normality, The Nation reported.
nhanif@thenational.ae
2025 Fifa Club World Cup groups
Group A: Palmeiras, Porto, Al Ahly, Inter Miami.
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UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
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The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
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