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Thursday March 28, 2024

Strike to continue today as govt-traders talks fail

Govt-traders talks fail: All Pakistan Anjuman-e-Tajran Chairman Khawaja Shafique announced to continue the country-wide shutter down strike on the second consecutive day today (Wednesday) as the FBR has backed out of all agreed points mainly because of the IMF pressure.

By our correspondents
October 30, 2019

ISLAMABAD/KARACHI/PESHAWAR: Despite mediatory role played by Jehangir Khan Tareen (JKT), the deadlock between the government and traders persisted as the five-hour-long negotiations failed to achieve any breakthrough.

After holding parleys with Adviser to PM on Finance Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh and FBR Chairman Shabbar Zaidi here at the Ministry of Finance, All Pakistan Anjuman-e-Tajran Chairman Khawaja Shafique announced to continue the country-wide shutter down strike on the second consecutive day today (Wednesday) as the FBR has backed out of all agreed points mainly because of the IMF pressure.

The traders’ leader, Ajmal Baloch, said the government has taken a U-turn on the fixed tax regime due to the IMF pressure.

When the traders’ leaders Khawaja Shafique, Ajmal Baloch and Naeem Mir were announcing the failure of talks with the government outside the Q-Block, PTI leader Jehangir Tareen reached the spot. He was told by the traders’ leaders that the FBR was not ready to accept any of their demands, ending the parleys in failure.

JKT asked the traders to continue the negotiations and hold another phase today (Wednesday). When journalists asked him of a possibility of any breakthrough, he replied that he would finalise things with the traders first and only then would inform the media about its outcome. Earlier in the day, when Shabbar Zaidi and traders’ leaders were engaged in talks, JKT had visited the Q-Block and told reporters thetalks were underway in positive manner and a positive outcome was expected.

Abdul Hafeez Shaikh told the reporters that about 3.5 million traders are outside the tax net and only 392,000 were paying their taxes. Without improving revenue collection, he asked how infrastructure and other social sector requirements could materialise. He said they were discussing tax-related matters with the traders’ leadership to facilitate those who are already part of tax system. He said without expanding the narrow base the requirements of infrastructure and social sector could not be met.

After five-hour long talks held at Ministry of Finance, the traders’ leaders came out from the Q-Block and told awaiting journalists that the talks have ended in failure as nothing positive came out of them. Khawaja Shafique said talks failed because the IMF could not accept their demands of withdrawal of CNIC condition.

At one point of time, the traders were asked to hold discussions with the visiting IMF team, but the traders refused, arguing that the government made an agreement with the Fund and now they should find out a solution to overcome this impasse. “Beggars cannot be choosers,” Khawaja Shafique said.

On other hand, the FBR high-ups told journalists that the traders were not ready to accept the CNIC condition aimed at moving towards documentation. On the fixed tax regime for small retailers, the turnover limit became a controversial issue as they could not accept traders’ demand to accept the limit of Rs100 million. When the salaried class income was taxable in the range of Rs0.6 million per annum then why the traders cannot pay their due taxes, they questioned?

Meanwhile, on Tuesday, markets and wholesale merchants across Pakistan observed a strike to protest the IMF-backed taxation measures to document commercial and retail activities in the country.

The All Karachi Tajir Ittehad Chairman Atiq Mir said all the major markets remained closed in the city. All Karachi Tajir Ittehad is a representative body of around 400 markets in the metropolis. The shutter-down strike was in response to a nationwide strike call by traders. The call was given for a host of unresolved issues, ranging from an increase in the bracket of taxable income to the mandatory procurement of CNICs from customers conducting transactions worth Rs50,000 and above.

The main markets in Clifton, Defence, Saddar, Tariq Road, Nazimabad along with city’s main wholesale markets, including Jodia Bazar, Bolton Market and scores of other markets across the city remained closed, while traders also staged a sit-in at II Chundrigar Road. “The deadlock between the traders and government compelled us to take this drastic action,” Mir said. He hoped that the dialogue between traders and the finance minister would reach a conclusion and the strike would be called off. “Personally I am against such strike as it results in financial losses to the business community as well as to the government exchequer,” he said.

The President Karachi Electronic Dealers Association Rizwan Irfan said the shutter down would continue till today (Wednesday). “The strike is successful as all the retail and wholesale markets in the city are closed,” Irfan said. The motor dealers, however, didn’t participate in the strike as car showrooms remained open. The All Pakistan Motor Dealers Association President HM Shahzad said motor dealers were open across the country and would remain open today (Wednesday) as well. “Although we have our reservations over the taxation and documentation measures introduced by the government, but we believe in dialogue,” Shahzad said.

The Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) President Irfan Iqbal Shaikh did not pay heed to the strike call, by keeping all the branches of his store open while keeping the chamber closed for two days.

On Monday, the LCCI in a hurriedly-called press conference had announced closing the chamber for two days and suspending all business activities. It announced full support for the strike call. However, the president himself did not keep his word and kept all the branches of his renowned store open. The staff at his stores said they were instructed by the management to continue work as routine. Phone calls were made to get version of Shaikh, which were attended by his personal secretary Ahmed Zafar who said the president is in a board of directors meeting and was not available for comments. He insisted that the chamber is open for the general public and there is no suspension of services. However, he said the chamber was closed for internal activities only. When asked why the media was informed that the chamber is closed, he said according to his information, the chamber is open. Ahmed Zafar said that after becoming LCCI president, Shaikh resigned from his business position for a year while his brother Shaikh Anees is looking after the business, who had decided not to observed strike. “Anees Shaikh said they are taxpayers. Why should they observe the strike,” Zafar said. Meanwhile, some of the staff members of the chamber also confirmed that the chamber would remain closed for two days.

Meanwhile, a complete strike was observed in the wholesale markets of Lahore while a partial strike was witnessed in other markets. All the wholesale markets of Lahore located inside the Walled City were closed while Liberty, Gulberg, Johar Town, Saddar, Allama Iqbal road were partially open.

The closed markets were Azam Cloth Market, Pakistan Cloth Market, Kashmiri Bazaar, Bara Market, Rang Mahal, Circular Road, Neela Gumbad, Gunpat Road, Dabi Bazaar, Rehman Galian Market, Lytton Road, Multan Road, Yateem Khana, Scheme Morr, Lohari Medicine Market, Brandrath Road, Amin Park's Main Market, Ravi Road, Madina Electric Market, Bottle Bazaar, Papar Mandi, Sarafa Bazaar, Moti Bazaar (wholesale shoe market), Shah Alam Market, Akbari Mandi, Lunda Bazaar Steel Market, Lunda Bazaar, Badami Bagh Spare Parts Market, Badami Bagh Steel Market, Bilal Gang, Anarkali Bazaar, Urdu Bazaar, Patiala Ground, Hall Road, Beadon Road, Montgomery Road, Mcleod Road Motorcycle and Spare Parts Market, Tyre Market (Railway Station and Nila Gumbad), Jail Road, The Mall, Abid Market, Ferozpur Road, Wahdat Road, Allama Iqbal Town, Civic Centre Garden Town, Ichhra, Bansaanwala Bazaar, Nisbat Road, Camera Market and the Paints Market.

The partially open markets were Gulberg Market, Yateem Khana, Liberty Market, Main Market, Panorama Centre, Ghari Shahu, Dharampura, Sadar, Mughalpura, Baghbanpura, Shalimar Link Road, Islampura Main Bazaar, Dil Muhammad Road and other small markets situated in the adjacent areas.

The strike was partially successful in all major cities in the country including Rawalpindi, Islamabad, Lahore, Karachi, Peshawar, Quetta, Faisalabad, Gujranwala, Multan, Vehari, Sahiwal, Hyderabad and several other cities. Traders in Islamabad and Rawalpindi also joined the traders across the country in protests. A complete shutter-down strike was observed in the federal capital and Rawalpindi against ‘anti-traders policies’ of government.

Commercial activities also remained suspended in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa as traders began a two-day shutdown strike. Almost all the small and major markets and bazaars remained closed in Peshawar and other main cities and towns in the KP at the call of All Pakistan Anjuman-e-Tajiran (APAT). A complete shutdown was observed in Khyber Bazaar, Ashraf Road, Qissa Khwani Bazaar, Chowk Yadgar, and elsewhere in the city and in Saddar in Peshawar. A small number of retailers, however, didn’t observe the strike.

The protesting traders demanded the government to bring business-friendly policies as consumers were affected due to the skyrocketing prices of essential commodities. They said the condition of production of CNIC by consumers on the purchase of goods worth Rs50,000 was totally unacceptable. They demanded the withdrawal of CNIC condition for retailers, the professional and traders calling tax, the hike in electricity and gas tariffs, and other taxes which they said were unfair and were imposed in the federal and provincial budgets for the next fiscal year. They warned the government to accept their demands or else they would extend the strike.

The Sarhad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) also suspended their routine activities to support the traders’ strike. The commercial activities in other districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa remained suspended as well. All markets in Swabi, Charsadda, Nowshera, Mardan and many other cities remained shut in protest against the government.

The traders in Swat did not observe the strike. The traders association office-bearers took the plea that the Malakand division is exempted from all taxes till year 2023 and therefore they have no reason to observe the strike.