France Product Bycott Issue

Many supermarket chains and people in Pakistan and other Muslim countries have started boycotting French products but interestingly some Pakistani-owned companies are being mistaken for French ones.

One of those companies is the popular LU Biscuit brand. Many large retailers such as Imtiaz and Chase stores have mistakenly made the biscuits unavailable not knowing that the company has absolutely nothing to do with France.

Atiq Mir, the chairman of the All Karachi Tajir Ittehad, cautioned, people should first see if they are boycotting something that has actually been made in France. “They shouldn’t be doing it with products that are made in Pakistan by Pakistani workers,” he says. “In the latter’s case, people would inadvertently be hurting Pakistan’s economy rather than France’s.”

Mir explained that there are many companies which appear to be foreign-owned but actually all of the investment is made by a local partner, all employees are local and and they have a positive effect on the country’s economy. Such companies should not be a target of a boycott, he told SAMAA Money.

The biscuit company is unfortunately being targeted by a smear campaign either by competitors or ill-informed persons on social media, Mir added.

The idea behind a boycott otherwise makes sense as it hurts a country’s economy as every country depends on its exports, he said