The continued political crises are affecting various businesses in the country in more than one way. The recent news sources provide a mix of good and disappointing updates on the effect of the political turmoil on business. Lately, the Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) went up by 313 points after the judges were restored by the orders of the prime minister. For exporters of fruit, things remained worrisome and for the dealers in items of women’s use in Swat, the business is declining.

The fruit exporters fear a huge loss due to the detention of more than 20 fruit containers by the authorities in Punjab about 5 days ago. The containers were carrying oranges for exporting to Europe and Iran through the Karachi port. They were held by the police for a prolonged time, in various parts of Punjab, on account of security concerns regarding the long march call by the lawyers and opposition. Despite the reminder that the fruit inside was perishable, the authorities detained the containers for more than 3 days and released them finally on Monday morning. The estimated cost of loss for each container is about 100, 000 rupees.

In Swat, women are too scared to go out for shopping due to the threats from Taliban despite the implementation of the Swat peace deal in the form of Nizam-e-Adl a month ago. Shopkeepers dealing in products of women’s interest like cosmetics, women’s garments, and accessories are suffering a sharp decline in sales, finding it difficult to pay their expenses due to the absence of women from the markets. Earlier Taliban had ordered to kill women if seen in the marketplace. But after the peace deal, the issue of women’s right to go out and shop has still not been resolved and women are not ready to visit the market for buying stuff.

Nevertheless, the cancellation of the long march after the restoration of the judges by the prime minister did allow the Karachi Stock Exchange (KS) to go up by 313 points on Monday as against the previous session. The Lahore Stock Exchange (LHE) went up by 101 points and the Islamabad Stock Exchange (ISE) rose by 71 points on Monday. The resolution of a major conflict thus boosted the business in the major cities of the country.