ISLAMABAD, Feb 18: Raising voice against ‘step-motherly’ treatment by the government, small traders of Islamabad on Wednes-day demanded protection to their businesses and welfare projects.

Taking up their issues at National Traders Alliance (NTA) meeting the small traders said that they had been working day and night for the last four decades to develop Islamabad and they deserved a better treatment.

Malik Sohail Hussain, who is president Blue Area Traders Association, Vice President, NTA and former senior vice president of ICCI said, “Traders are dubbed as backbone of economy as well as thieves simultaneously which is discrimination. We demand a clear-cut policy for small traders and a fair deal as the traders were bypassed in all major decisions.”