PESHAWAR: The business community in Peshawar continued the shutter down strike for second day on Wednesday with traders staging a protest camp at the Chowk Yadgar, but most markets remained open in Kohat.

The leaders of various political parties also visited the camp to express solidarity with the traders in support of their demands against ‘harsh’ budgetary measures.

On the occasion, the traders’ leaders, including Malik Meher Ilahi, Haji Sharafat Ali Mubarak, Mohammad Ihtesham Haleem, Haji Shakeel Ahmed, Mujeeb-ur-Rehman and Haji Mohammad Afzal, said the entire business community was united that the government’s new taxation policy should be withdrawn.

Strike call gets poor response in Kohat

They appreciated the business community for proving that all of trade organisations were on the same page. Referring to the agreement between traders’ leaders and FBR, they expressed the hope that the government would materialise its commitment and resolve the issues once for all.

We are already paying taxes as citizens of the country and will continue to contribute to the national economy but the government should also stop taking decisions unilaterally, the traders said and added that depreciation of the national currency had led to unprecedented price hike which affected both the business community and consumers alike.

The speakers said the government should take concrete steps for improving the national economy in consultation with the business community in order to attract foreign investors.

They also asked for controlling increasing gas and power tariffs and concrete steps for reviving industrial units in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

In Kohat, unpleasant scenes were witnessed when the rival traders’ union tried to close the shops forcibly during a rally through the main bazaar.

However, the police intervened and prevented the trader leaders from closing the shops.

The Tajir action committee had boycotted the strike call given by the rival Tajir Ittehad.

The participants of the rally led by Mohammad Hafeez, president of Tajir Ittehad, Sher Khan Bangash of Mushtarika markets union, Malik Mansoor of electronics union and JUI-S emir Qari Fateh Mohammad, while passing through the main bazaar, forcibly pulled the shutters down of some shops, but the owners put up resistance.

SHO city police station, Fayyaz Khan who was accompanying the rally, stopped the participants from forcibly closing the shops and said it wsa their prerogative whether or not to close the shops.

Mr Fayyaz told Dawn that the Tajir Ittehad leaders after seeing their strike call falling on deaf ears forcibly closed the shops, but could not succeed in their effort.

In Swabi, the chemists observed a token shutter down strike across the district on Wednesday.

The strike call was given by chemists and druggists association (CDA), Swabi.

Sajjad Haider, district chairman of CDA, told mediapersons that all medical stores remained closed from early in the morning till 10am.

He said the shutter down was observed to express sympathy with the protesting traders and doctors.

In Charsadda, a complete shutter down strike was observed on Wednesday.

All markets remained closed in different bazaars, including Charsadda, Rajar, Umarzai and Utmanzai Bazaars. The traders also staged a sit-in at Farooq Azam Chowk to lodge protest against government’s anti-trade policies. Leaders of various political parties visited the protest camp to express solidarity with the traders.

Published in Dawn, October 31st, 2019