Turkish companies cry foul in Pakistan

Turkish waste management companies operating in Pakistan have initiated legal proceedings against the Lahore Waste Management Company (LWMC) for terminating their contracts before the stipulated time and seizing their machinery forcibly saying their action can massively damage the relations between both the countries.

Albayrak and Ozpak, which have been providing cleaning services in Lahore since 2012, have said that they are "extremely astonished by the tyranny" of government-run authority and have faced violence which is hard to find even in "third world countries."

In a detailed press statement, the Turkish companies said that their workshops were raided by police officers without a "written notice or legal justification" and "all equipment belonging to company was seized and captured by force with employees and managers forcibly thrown out from workshop sites."

Pakistani daily <em>Dawn</em> reported today that the Turkish companies have filed a contempt of court plea in the Lahore High Court against the LWMC management for alleged violation of a court stay order, besides a writ petition for “violation of their fundamental rights”, asking the court to declare their action (of assets takeover) illegal and seeking restoration of their status that existed prior to December 20.

The spokesperson of the foreign companies accused the Pakistani authority of "harming ties between two countries" and the feeling of "brotherhood" which existed between Turkey and Pakistan.

<img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-48684" src="https://indianarrative.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Turkey-Pakistan.jpg" alt="Turkey Pakistan" />

"We have initiated legal action since you have tried to create obstacles in the way of foreign investors’ activities in Pakistan, you have tried to harm our commercial reputation. And because this behavior is the breach of contract, a breach of trust, a violation of fundamental rights and contempt of the court," the statement said.

Ironically, Turkish agencies are facing discrimination in Pakistan at a time when Imran Khan is busy projecting to the world that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan remains his good, loyal – and perhaps the only – friend.

The Turkish companies, in a full page statement published in the Pakistani dailies earlier this week, said that just 10 months after Erdogan and Khan decided to increase the trade volumes between the two countries, this "raid behaviour" of the Pakistani government authority could sabotage the relations between both the countries.

Only last week, in a webinar organised by the Karachi Council on Foreign Relations (KCFR) on Pakistan-Turkey relations, Ihsan Mustafa Yurdakul – the Turkish ambassador in Pakistan – had said that what Turkey and Pakistan have is more than a relationship.

"In the case of us, it's not correct because we don't have that distance to live with each other. It's better to call the interaction a bond. The bond between Turkey and Pakistan started a long time back and we will pass this legacy to the next generations," he said..