No blackmailing

This refers to the story ‘Traders’ countrywide shutter down on 28th’ (Oct 10). Another round of talks between the FBR and traders’ representatives to end the impasse resulted in deadlock. The traders seemed adamant in not accepting the reasonable requirement of FBR to document the economy nor willing to show up in the tax net. The traders, over the years, were pampered by successive governments through lax rules and sloppy enforcement measures. This government must now stay firm and not back down from stopping business malpractices and enforcing financial transparency. The easy way to enforce compliance is ordering disconnection of power supply to businesses which do not comply with the FBR guidelines.

As regards the threat of strike, this is not going to make any difference even if they protest for a week or a month. They cannot sustain the loss of business even for a few days. Further, a sizeable section of the traders want to remain peaceful and are willing to comply with FBR’s requirements. Certain black sheep in the trading community do not want to follow the rules of the game for extra profiteering. The government must enforce its writ and not bend to the unreasonable demands of any community detrimental to the interest of the country.

Kulsoom Arif

Karachi