According to newspaper reports, Pakistan’s exports of handmade carpet have declined by 50 percent in one decade –from $278million in 2005-06 to $97.7million in 2015-16. In 70s and 80s, carpet was the dominant product of the cottage industry and a major source of foreign exchange earnings, but the industry gradually lost its potential on the allegation of child labour and lack of the interest of the federal and provincial governments over the years. As result, India filled the vacuum created by Pakistan and captured the carpet market, taking its exports to $8 billion in 2015-16 from mere $300 million a decade ago. In its previous trade policy, the government had announced the formation of an export council, to help the carpet manufacturers and exporters resolve their problems, but the files of the proposed forum have has been thrown into cold storage. Hundreds of entrepreneurs have lost their businesses and workers lost their jobs and are now looking for other options to earn livelihood. The government could not remove the stigma of child labour from the industry and a late journalist exploited this situation to please his foreign masters. The country suffered billions of rupees loss in one month.
The situation of child labour is not different in India or Bangladesh, but foreign funded NGOs in Pakistan love to raise domestic issues in the international media not only to bring shame to the nation, but also to cause business losses. The Commerce Ministry also ignore the handmade carpets in signing free trade agreements with foreign governments, leaving little room for the industry to survive. The establishment of the export council could have provided a platform to the stakeholders to resolve their issues, but official rigmarole always comes in the way of vital national projects. The bureaucracy always see business community with suspicion as if only they themselves are the patriots and rests are not. According to experts, India introduced reforms in its domestic carpet industry half a decade ago and showered a host of incentives to boost the carpet exports, but the Pakistani industry had failed to get any package of incentives from the government. In Pakistan, the labour force associated with the industry mostly comprises women as it provides them opportunity to work at home. But a quarter of a million workforce is made to leave this profession. The government had failed to invite the stakeholders of the carpet industry to a recently held meeting of exporters.
The hand-knotted carpets have huge demand in the United States and the European countries where the buyers still prefer Pakistani carpets over Turkish, Indian or Iranian-made carpets. But problem for the Pakistani policymakers is that they don’t know how to explore or exploit new markets. The Pakistani commercial attachés deployed in the foreign missions, most of whom are involved in dereliction of duties, are the burden on the national exchequer and should be fired.
