Chemists stage protest in Peshawar

PESHAWAR: Pakistan Chemist and Druggist Association, Peshawar chapter, on Wednesday staged protest against the government decision to impose new taxes in the budget.

Talking to The News, Chemist and Druggist Association president Fayyaz Dawar said that the government’s flawed policies had affected their businesses and now they were forced to close their businesses. He said that imposition of the new taxes would force them to close the businesses. He added that several retail businesses had already laid off their staff as the businesses had been in decline for the last couple of years.Fayyaz Dawar said that the government had asked distributors to collect taxes for them from the retailers, adding that the ultimate burden would fall on the general public as the retailers had been asked to get that tax from the public. He maintained that the retailers had made it clear to the distributors that if their bills contained the new taxes the retailers would neither pay their bills nor would return the medicines.

The trader said that medicine prices had already gone up in the last few years and the levying of new taxes would make medicines out of the reach of the poor people. He said that their association had staged a token strike today but would go on complete shut down if their demands were not met.