Lahore, Karachi, Pindi traders divided over strike

LAHORE/KARACHI/RAWALPINDI: The Lahore and Karachi traders have divided over a nationwide shutter-down strike on Saturday (today) in protest against a hike in the sales tax in the federal budget 2019-2020.

The Pakistan Traders Alliance called off the strike after successful negotiations with the Punjab government, while the Karachi Electronic Dealers Association and Rawalpindi traders said they will continue with the shutter-down strike.

Last week, the All Pakistan Anjuman-e-Tajran (APAT) had announced a nationwide shutter-down strike from July 13. In a meeting at the Punjab Chief Minister’s office, the APAT and the trader organisation reached a consensus taking back the call for a shutter-down strike.

Speaking to the media, Punjab Minister for Industries, Commerce and Investment Mian Aslam Iqbal said, “The Punjab government has approved all demands and now there is no justification for a strike. The markets and shops will remain open now.” Iqbal added, “All the genuine demands of traders had been approved after a seven-hour-long dialogue. The federal government would be contacted for the solution of some issues.”

He further said the anti-government trade organisations were propagating that national identity card would be demanded from every customer. “This condition is only for the main dealers and not for the shopkeepers and customers. A fixed tax system was being introduced for the sub-dealers. No tax was being imposed on small shopkeepers,” Iqbal added.

The minister said the government could not run without taxes. “Those who were able to pay taxes were being brought into the tax net. The CNIC condition was for those who were doing business with the mills. The CNIC would not be demanded from the customers making purchases less than Rs50,000. A separate tax system would be brought for the jewelery association with their consultation.”

Iqbal said the Federal Bureau of Revenue (FBR) will not raid markets or freeze anyone’s account. “The Punjab government has decided not to increase the price of Rs20kg flour bag and the same would be available at the old price of Rs770 and the government would give subsidy in this regard,” he added.

“The Punjab government was giving a subsidy of Rs42 billion for providing flour at reasonable rates. Checking the prices of essential commodities was the right of government if it was giving a subsidy of billions of rupees for the provision of essential items at reasonable rates,” he added.

He said a summary had been sent to the prime minister for taking back tax on ghee. “Tax on cement, ghee and sugar has also been decreased,” he added. On the other hand, the Karachi Electronic Dealers Association observed a shutter-down strike on Friday, while in Faisalabad a strike has been ongoing since July 1 in the processing industry.

In the tribal region, the Steel Mills stand closed since July 1 impacting the livelihood of 10,000 workers. In Rawalpindi, the business community will observe a shutter-down strike and stage a sit-in at the D-Chowk, Islamabad today for an indefinite period if the FBR did not taken back its wrong decisions.

Talking to the media, Markazi Anjuman-e-Tajran (Punjab) President Sharjeel Mir warned on Friday that the traders were united countywide and will protest against the wrong government policies.

He said the government will see the unity of traders on July 13 (today). The business community has strongly rejected the budget and new taxes imposed by the FBR, he added.

Meanwhile, All Pakistan Anjuman-e-Tajran (APAT) General Secretary Naeem Mir said the business community was united and will observe a shutter-down strike on Saturday with full force. He said the government was sparing no effort to divide the business community but in vain. “All kinds of business activities will remain closed throughout the country on Saturday,” he said.