Karachi’s traders wish to run businesses 24 hours a day: MQM-P

Expressing concerns over the Sindh government’s recent restrictions on businesses in view of the third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) on Tuesday said Karachi’s business community is not happy with the government’s decisions and wishes to run their businesses 24 hours a day.

Addressing a news conference at the party’s headquarters, MQM-Pakistan senior deputy convenor Kunwar Naveed Jamil said Karachi pays the highest taxes to the federation and Sindh, and it is unfortunate that the government is using “high-handed tactics against the city’s traders under the guise of the spread of the coronavirus”.

Accompanied by the party’s MPAs Muhammad Hussain, Javed Haneef and others on the occasion, Jamil said the MQM stands with the traders and understands their genuine grievances.

He said the prices of food items had increased more in March alone as compared to the past seven months, adding that the price control system, including the deputy commissioners and assistant commissioners, had failed miserably in controlling prices.

“On the other hand, the Sindh government is devoting all its energies to fanning the flames of rural-urban divide in the province,” he claimed. He demanded that the federal government reduce the prices of gas, electricity and medicines, and immediately end load-shedding of gas and electricity.

Jamil said that it is the prime responsibility of the governments to control inflation. “The holy month of Ramazan is almost upon us, and even in this month, the machinations of profiteers are on the rise, which should be controlled by the government machinery.”