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| 'If you leave this country, you will lose your business': Pakistanis who are not ready to leave war-torn Sudan |
He has built his business with years of hard work and effort. People here trust us and we have good relations with them. If they leave the country under these conditions, they will lose their business. However, the country which has given us so much does not want to leave it in these circumstances.
It is said that Ijaz Ahmed, a resident of Punjab's Gujarat district, has been running three air-conditioning workshops in Khartoum, the war-torn capital of Sudan, for the past seven years.
However, not only Ejaz Ahmed, but engineer Rana Qaiser, a resident of Gujranwala, has also decided that he will not return to Pakistan despite the fierce civil war. Kaiser has been doing business in Sudan for about ten years.
Due to the daily intensification of the recent clashes in Sudan, several rescue operations have been conducted to evacuate foreign nationals safely from the country. These operations have been carried out by land, air, and sea means.
According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Pakistan, the Pakistani embassy in Sudan is providing assistance in the evacuation of Pakistanis living here and a ship carrying 37 Pakistanis arrived in Jeddah from Port Sudan yesterday.
Although many Pakistanis are trying to leave Sudan safely as soon as possible due to this situation, there are some Pakistanis who do not want to leave war-torn Sudan and come to Pakistan.
Rana Qaiser is associated with a solar panel business in Sudan. He had a Pakistani staff of twenty people, out of which 18 have taken the return journey, while Rana Qusir is currently in Sudan with his son.
He says that it does not take long to change the times. If we go back today, how will we come back to our relatives in Sudan? Therefore, I thought that the staff who wants to go back should go, and we will not go. The son and two other staff members have refused to leave. Anyway, I have no work to do in Pakistan.
Rana Qaiser says that at the moment, only those people are leaving Sudan who have jobs in Sudan. People who have established their businesses in Sudan, who have personal relationships with the local people here, or who have married are not leaving Sudan.
Ejaz Ahmed said that he knows many Pakistanis who have not left Sudan, yes, it must have happened that people have temporarily sought refuge in other cities instead of Khartoum, while many people are still in Khartoum. '
"Shops, petrol pumps, everything is closed in Khartoum, the system of life is suspended."
Rana Qaiser says he was temporarily forced to leave Khartoum yesterday and is currently in Madani City.
He says that the situation in Khartoum has become very scary. Now the situation is that there is no sign of stopping the firing. Shops and petrol pumps are all closed there. The system of life is suspended.
He said that people have run out of food and drink, and the ration that we had had run out. When we went out to get some ration from a shop, everything was closed.
He said that he asked the military official about this and he said that 'the ration is over, so break the lock of the shop and if you find anything, take it.'
Rana Qaiser says that 'when all our departing staff members left for Port Sudan with the caravan, we also decided that we will also temporarily leave Khartoum and take up residence in Madani city. We already have business relations in this city.
He said that we have loaded as much of our stuff as we could in the car. After which he took out petrol from his two motorcycles and two other vehicles and poured it into the traveling vehicle.
He said that the situation in the city is completely peaceful and we have started our work here.
On the other hand, Ejaz Ahmed says, "I am currently in Shindi City. After the departure of the staff, we were forced to close our three workshops in Khartoum. After which, on the advice of his father-in-law, he has now come to the city of Shindi. There is complete peace here and we don't have any kind of problem.
On reaching Madani from Khartoum, the government army welcomed us.
Ejaz Ahmed says that there is a danger in leaving Khartoum. Fighting is going on in many areas. There are some areas where heavy firing is taking place. So before we left Khartoum, we determined the exit route to Shindi. In which we did not face any difficulty.
Rana Qaiser explains that 'Khartoum has seen the terrible effects of fighting everywhere. It was a nerve-wracking journey till we reached Madani city but we were not stopped at all by government and non-government forces on the way back, we were only checked and searched at official and non-government posts and then let go. .'
He said that the government army welcomed us on reaching Madani from Khartoum. He told us that it was good that he left Khartoum. Conditions are good in Madani City. Do your work here, if the situation improves soon, go to Khartoum.'
"People here have become accustomed to the atmosphere of war."
Ejaz Ahmed says that I know until every little while the situation in Sudan worsens. People here are used to the environment of war, but then the situation gets better at once.
He said that 'Now there is a fight going on, believe me, if this fight ends, the business will start again here and it will look like there was no fight at all.'
He says that this is why I have decided that I will close my business temporarily but will not go to Pakistan. If Pakistan goes through these conditions once, the business built by hard work will end.
Ejaz Ahmed said that this war has to end, after which there will be peace and our work will resume and by staying in Sudan during this difficult time, our relations with these people will be better. .'
Rana Qaiser says that business opportunities not only in Sudan but in the whole of Africa are better than in Pakistan and the rest of the world.
What businesses do Pakistanis do in Sudan?
Rana Qaiser says that 'Pakistanis have set up about eighteen steel mills in Sudan. All these steel mills have been installed by the big investors of Pakistan and these steel mills are also named Karachi, Lahore, and Faisalabad Steel Mills.
He claimed that 'Pakistanis have invested the most in the steel business.'
He further said that the reason for this is the demand for steel in Sudan apart from the increasing development work. Which, apart from Pakistan, local staff have also been hired.
According to Rana Qaiser, there is a great demand for Pakistani masons in Sudan. Many masons from Pakistan have been working here, while many have worked as masons in Sudan in the beginning and then started working as contractors.
"In addition to this, Pakistanis are also associated with medium-sized businesses," he says.
There were many facilities for investing in small and large businesses. Which includes tax exemption and local people and local staff are honest.
According to Ejaz Ahmed, "The government provides facilities for investment, but the local people also respect us foreign businessmen and the law of Sudan has always helped us."
He said that due to these facilities, a large number of businessmen from Pakistan have gone to Sudan for the last five or six years. As a result, job opportunities have also been created for Pakistanis in Sudan.
He said, "I am hoping that sometime we will be traveling from Shindi to Khartoum again and will be busy with our business again."