rights.
“We will observe a shutter-down strike on August 5 on the call of the Markazi Anjuman Tajiran. The PML-N-supported traders want to divide the traders on the genuine demand to withdraw the imposition of Withholding Tax,” Nasir Mir said. He said the PML-N traders were assigned the duty by the government to sabotage the strike.
He said all trader leaders belonging to the PML-N wanted to get party tickets for the local government elections.
“We will observe a strike on August 5 as per the plan and in this regard all the traders will have to close their shops,” he said.
However, the other group led by Shahid Ghafoor Paracha and the Cantonment Traders Association President Zafar Qadri observed the strike on Saturday.
He said both the calls were generated from Lahore as the traders were divided into two groups on the strike.
“Our stance is to press the government immediately but the other group wants to give time to the government and has fixed August 5 for the strike,” he said.
He said unity among traders was necessary to press the government to withdraw the imposition of tax on banking transactions.
Anjuman-e-Tajiran Peshawar President Haji Afzal said they had observed a complete strike against the imposition of Withholding Tax.
“All the people are upset due to the government’s wrong polices,” he said. “If the government did not accept our demands we will continue our strike,” he warned.
In Lahore, traders succeeded in keeping most of important markets closed; however, markets in some localities operated normally.
Almost all the wholesale markets and business centres in localities like Liberty and Anarkali, The Mall and Hall Road remained closed.
The strike, however, did not disturb routine life in the city, with the markets in residential localities operating as usual.
There was almost no strike in Barkat Market (Garden Town), Garhi Shahu, Dharampura and Sanda.
Bakeries, eateries and medical stores operated normally in the areas where the majority of the population resides.
The Federation of Pakistan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) opposed the strike, while the stance of the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry was unclear.
The All Pakistan Textile Mills Association also disassociated from the strike call.
The PML-N Traders Wing remained a silent spectator though some of its leaders gave muted support to the strike. Another traders group has given a strike call in Lahore for August 5.
But in Multan the shutter down was complete, as over 400 small and big markets remained closed. The protesting traders demanded the government to remove Federal Finance Minister Ishaq Dar and the FBR chairman for misguiding the government on tax-related issues.
In Peshawar, traders observed a complete shutter-down, as major business centres and markets remained closed on Saturday. The traders went for the shutter-down on the call of All Pakistan Anjuman-e-Tajiran (APAT) that announced a strike across the country against the levy of WHT.
All major businesses in the Cantonment and Charsadda Road areas, including motor bargain centres, furniture houses and cloth and garments outlets, remained closed all day long while some restaurants and other small businesses started their daily routine late in the day.
However, food shops, bakers and other shopkeepers selling items of daily use remained open as the traders had allowed them to run their routine businesses so that the common people face no trouble in getting essential items.
President of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chapter of the APAT Sharafat Ali Mubarak termed the shutter-down a referendum of traders against the government’s decision to levy 0.3 percent WHT on banking transactions.
“I personally monitored the strike in various parts of the province through independent observers and traders. All major divisional centres and cities such as Dera Ismail Khan, Bannu, Abbottabad, Haripur, Swabi, Hangu, Karak, Charsadda and Mardan observed complete shutter-down,” he added.
Sharafat, who is also president of Markazi Tanzeem Tajiran and Vice-President of the APAT at the national level, said: “The imposition of WHT on traders is a draconian decision through which the government wanted to tax those who were already taxed.