Business communities across Pakistan announce resumption of activities from April 15

Traders across the country on Tuesday have announced that they would resume operations from April 15, however, Punbjab's business community has urged provincial government to allow trade for a limited time.

Prime Minister Imran Khan today, pushed the lockdown from April 14 to April 30. He said that some industries would be allowed to start operations from tomorrow.

The traders in Karachi said that they could no longer bear the lockdown restrictions and announced that they would resume business operations from April 15.

Prime Minister Imran Khan in his address to the nation today, said that construction industry

A representative of the Karachi traders, Rizwan Irfan said that the business would reopen and that they would ensure that preventive measures were followed.

"We have given a month's salary to our employees," he said while addressing a press conference. "We will be unable to pay salaries to our employees if the lockdown extends."

"If the lockdown restriction are not removed then we will give our shops keys to [the officials at] Sindh Chief Minister's House," he said adding that after doing so they would protest outside the provincial chief's office.

The business community in Balochistan has also said that it will resume operations from April 15 and that they could not tolerate a further extension in the lockdown.

The traders will follow precautionary measures, a spokesperson for the traders' organisation said, adding that they have informed the provincial government about their decision.

Meanwhile, the business community in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa announced that they would resume their activities from tomorrow onward.

President United Business Group, Ilyas Bilour, said that small traders were starving due to the lockdown and that due to the closure of trading centres the labourers had been badly affected.

Furthermore, a delegation of businessmen in Punjab met provincial minister for industries, commerce, and investment and urged him to allow the resumption of operations for a limited time during the day.

The traders in the meeting also requested him to waive off the rent of government-owned shops. They said that new regulations should be introduced that would facilitate business to continue during coronavirus.

The provincial minister after listening to the concerns of the business community said that indeed the small trader is facing a severe financial crunch due to the ongoing situation.  

Sindh to not allow resumption of trade activities

A few hours after the announcement, Sindh Information Minister Nasir Hussain Shah said that the provincial government would not permit traders to resume operations.

"We have drafted SOPs [for the business community] and will issue them [in the coming days]," he said.

"Small scale traders will be given a subsidy in taxes," he said, adding that action will be taken against violators of lockdown restrictions.

"Even the federal government has not allowed the reopening of markets," he added.