Peshawar traders to observe shutdown today

PESHAWAR: Traders here on Wednesday announced a shutdown strike against the multiple taxation in electricity bills on Thursday (today).

Traders leaders Malik Mehr Elahi, Muhammad Afzal Ashraf, Shaukat Ali Khan, Ghulam Bilal Javed and others said that markets would remain closed in Peshawar today against what they said was unjust taxation in electricity bills and rising inflation in the country.

The traders demanded an end to free electricity to all government and non-government offices.They also demanded an end to the free electricity units to government officials at all level.

The protesters are being staged across the country against the rise in the power tariffs for consumers.Awami National Party (ANP) held a protest rally in Nauthia. The protesters marched from Nauthia to Deans Chowk at the junction of the Sunehri Masjid and Sher Shah Suri Road.

Led by ANP leader and former senator Syed Aqil Shah, the protesters were holding banners inscribed with demands for ending all taxes in the electricity bills. The protesters gathered at the Deans Chowk and chanted slogans against the Peshawar Electric Supply Company.

The protesters said that the government had no concern for the miseries of the people. They said the people were already facing unprecedented inflation while the government decision to collect more taxes from them would force them into a rebellion.

The protesters asked the government to take back the decision of unjust taxation in the electricity bills, reduce the unit cost of electricity and take steps for controlling inflation or else the protests would grow.

All Pakistan Marble Association Khyber Pakhtunkhwa also demanded the government to reconsider the decision which would destroy the country’s weak economy.Speaking at a press conference the association chief Asghar Khan said if the industrialists start paying the electricity bills after the inclusion of the new taxes, they would not be able to remain operational.

He said that the marble and granite industries could not remain operational after such high taxes.Asghar Khan said that the marble industries were not only providing jobs to thousands of people but were also bringing foreign exchange to the country.

He said that the government should have provided relief to the industries to tackle the economic situation but it imposed new taxes which had increased their problems. He said that they would be left with no other option but to join the ongoing protests in the country if the government failed to provide any relief to the citizens.