Traders across major cities of Pakistan observed a shutter-down strike on Wednesday against the government’s much-touted tax reforms, including the Tajir Dost Scheme.

In March, the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) introduced the ‘Tajir Dost Scheme’ to bring traders and wholesalers into the formal tax structure as required by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The move had led to concerns and reservations among the traders.

Earlier this month, the traders’ community, including Markazi Tanzeem-i-Tajran Pakistan and All Pakistan Anjuman-i-Tajran, announced a nationwide strike against the Tajir Dost Scheme as well as heavy taxation and inflated electricity bills.

Trader’s bodies have decried the tax challans — to the tune of Rs60,000 — issued to small businesses and retailers, saying those registered under the scheme were promised they would not have to pay more than Rs1,200 in taxes.

The expansion of the country’s tax base will now pose a significant challenge for the PML-N and its coalition partner, the PPP, as the protesting traders have political affiliations with these parties.

Nevertheless, opposition parties — Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl, Jamaat-i-Islami (JI), and the Awami National Party — have declared their support for the agitating traders.

Shutters in various parts of the country — including the metropolitan cities of Karachi and Lahore — remained closed as the call for strike from traders’ associations received an overwhelming response from the community.

Iftikhar Ahmed Sheikh, president of the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI), had urged all its members to fully support Wednesday’s countrywide strike by closing their businesses.

Muhammad Kamran Arbi, president of the Site Association of Industry, has extended firm support to the traders’ strike. The Korangi Association of Trade and Industry and the Central Association of Tajran Pakistan have also announced their support.

The Pakistan Oil Tankers’ Association, in its statement issued on Tuesday, said it “fully supported” the call for a strike by the trader’s community and the JI.

The oil tankers’ body asserted the strike was the “voice of the country’s poor, helpless and destitute public against the heavy taxes and atrocious electricity bills”.

The Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) also endorsed the call for a strike, the chief of its Karachi chapter, Mufti Qasim Fakhri, said in a statement.

Criticising the government for “enjoying privileges amid sky-high inflation”, Fakhri termed the imposition of taxes a “part of a foreign conspiracy”.

“Where are those who made promises to the public while seeking their votes?” the TLP leader asked.

Sindh

Hakeem Shah, chairman of the All Karachi Traders Alliance, said in a statement that the shutter-down strike was being observed “all across from Karachi to Khyber”.

Shah said the traders’ community could “no longer bear the burden of the rulers’ pleasures”. “The country is on the brink of disaster due to the rulers’ wrong policies,” he asserted.

“If the Tajir Dost Scheme is not withdrawn, we will go ahead with a confrontational movement,” Shah warned.

JI Karachi chief Monem Zafar called the ‘Tajir Dost Scheme’ (trader-friendly scheme) a “tajir dushman scheme” (traders’ enemy scheme).

Speaking to the media in Karachi, Zafar said: “You (government) burdened the salaried class with taxes and you burdened traders with taxes under the ‘tajir dushman scheme’.”

Slamming the government for being “enemies” of the common citizens through imposing harsh tax policies, the JI leader said, “Whether it is the Zardari family or the Sharif family, we do not accept these policies.”

“The people do not accept this (taxes) and we once again demand that the politicians stop using delay tactics and giving ‘lollipops’ to the traders and the business community,” Zafar said.

On the other hand, Sindh government spokesperson Ghanwar Isran Ali claimed that the JI had forced schools to remain shut, adding that the party’s “hooliganism” was “condemnable”.

“Tactics to undermine the rule of law and to spread fear among the citizens will not be tolerated,” he said in a statement. Ali added it was “shameful to prioritise one’s political interests over the public’s well-being and progress”.

Punjab

In Lahore, shops on Hall Road, where the JI has set up a camp to mobilise traders and the general public, as well as on Mall Road, remained closed as traders observed the strike.

According to a Dawn.com correspondent based in Lahore, the strike extended to Multan, Faisalabad, Islamabad, Rawalpindi, and other cities of Punjab as well.

Merchants on the Chakwal-Talagang road and in the main market of Kharian city kept their shops closed.

In Islamabad, in a rare show of unity, not only traders and small businesses but many outlets of national clothing brands participated in the shutter-down strike.

Contrary to the previous protest strikes and shutter-downs by the business community, even tea stalls, local restaurants and tandoors suspended their activities against the ‘Tajir Dost Scheme’.

“Apart from the top-line food chains, we requested all branded clothing outlets and other stores to be part of the strike and they obliged to our request,” said Abdul Rehman, president of the Traders Welfare Association of F-7 Markaz.

The strike was also observed at other high-end markets, including Blue Area and F-6 Markaz. The impact of the shutter-down protest was clearly visible in the low and midlevel markets of Islamabad as well as in the outskirts of the city.

Thanks to the support of the Nanbai Association, almost all the tandoors in the capital remained closed on Wednesday.

At the same time, however, the city’s meat shops were closed due to their weekly off.

The supporters of the two main rival bodies of traders — the Markazi Tanzeem-i-Tajran Pakistan and the Anjuman Tajiran Pakistan (ATP) — were seen surveying the markets together to ensure that the strike call was being observed.

The leaders of the traders’ bodies termed the shutter-down strike as a referendum against the “malpractices” of the FBR.

“We demand the government to reform the tax collecting body to bridge the trust deficit between the tax payers and the FBR,” said ATP President Ajmal Baloch.

“Nobody is against tax payment or being in the tax net. But can anybody, including the prime minister or the army chief, give the guarantee that there will not be any harassment by FBR officials as they do with industrialists and importers?” Baloch said.

Due to the shutter down strike, the number of commuters in local transport services too was less than normal.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

In KP, traders and transporters across the Malakand and Hazara divisions observed a shutter-down and wheel-jam strike against the heavy taxes.

Rallies in various cities of the province were also carried out with the support of the JI.

Abdur Rahim, the divisional president of a Malakand trade union, highlighted that the division was merged with Pakistan in 1969 under an agreement that exempted it from all kinds of taxes. However, the recent imposition of taxes was beyond his understanding, he said.

Rahim further said that the residents of Malakand were paying huge taxes indirectly through inflated utility bills and mobile prepaid services.

He added that the entire country was using their resources — particularly “electricity generated from the KP rivers” — but despite their agitations, meetings, and promises, the people there already “hit by militancy and disaster had never been facilitated or benefited”.

“The entire business community is united in this cause,” said Muhammad Zada, the president of a trade union in Shangla district’s Bisham tehsil.

Zada emphasised that the “only demand was that the government decrease the electricity rates and reverse the decision of tax net expansion to Malakand division”.

He said traders in Bisham would also stage a protest rally in the afternoon on the Karakoram Highway to pressure the government to make “positive decisions in support of the business community and instead impose taxes on landlords, as well as end the agreements with independent power producers”.

In Hazara Division’s Battagram district, the district president of the traders’ union, Abdul Ghaffar Deshani, lamented that businesses had been devastated by the government’s harsh policies, exorbitant taxes, and “weekly increases in the electricity rates”.

He claimed the government was favouring a particular class, alleging that it facilitated only those in Punjab as its “leadership tilt” there.

Deshani warned of traders commencing a movement against the government for its “failed policies and day-to-day inflation” if it did not accept their demands.

The union president emphasised that record inflation in the country had destroyed the economy, industries, and small businesses, impacting labourers.

Noting that many traders had lost their businesses due to inflationary pressure, Deshani said they had “lost strength” when it came to carrying on with their businesses.

He asked that the government “take emergency corrective measures” to improve the economy, considering that the “continued free fall of the rupee against the dollar snatched purchasing power from traders”.

Shah Hussain, another trade leader from Battagram, said the bills had made the traders “hapless”.

Traders had “no idea what to do and where to go” with local resources being depleted and revenue generation coming to a halt because of inflation, he said.

Hussain censured the government for running on IMF directives, stating that political leaders had “no idea and plan to take the country [out of] the crisis”.

Echoing Rahim’s statements, he pointed out that KP generated “7,500 megawatts” of electricity with the centre “buying it Rs2 per unit and selling it back to the people at Rs57”.

Balochistan

The Balochistan Anjuman-i-Tajraan (BAT) also rallied behind the countrywide calls for shutting down businesses today.

The province is also reeling from the recent deadly attacks that claimed dozens of lives.

Shops across Quetta — including Jinnah Road, Masjid Road, Liaquat Bazaar, Shahrah-i-Iqbal, Abdulsattar Road, Double Road and New Adda — remained closed as they took part in the strike.

Traders in the city organised a rally against the reforms introducing heavy taxes and staged a protest outside the Quetta Press Club.

BAT President Rahim Kakar and other traders addressed the gathering, terming the additional taxes “unacceptable”.

According to a Dawn.com correspondent based in Quetta, traffic on the provincial capital’s roads was less than usual.

‘FBR willing to resolve issues, won’t withdraw scheme’

Iftikhar Ahmed Sheikh, president of the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI), had urged all its members to fully support Wednesday’s countrywide strike by closing their businesses.

Muhammad Kamran Arbi, president of the Site Association of Industry, has extended firm support to the traders’ strike. The Korangi Association of Trade and Industry and the Central Association of Tajran Pakistan have also announced their support.

Traders’ representatives visited the FBR’s headquarters on Tuesday to express their discontent to the revenue board’s chief Rashid Mahmood and his team regarding the Tajir Dost Scheme, which was implemented in April, and the recently notified tax rates that took effect in August.

FBR chief Mahmood told Dawn that the FBR is willing to resolve “legitimate issues” raised during the meeting. “We are ready to make amendments to the SRO to address their concerns,” he said.

However, he emphasised that the FBR will not withdraw the Tajir Dost Scheme, which aims to bring the retail sector under the tax net.

The FBR chief hinted at setting up a market-level review mechanism with representation from tax officers and traders to ensure that no shopkeepers face unfair tax rates. “We can rectify such issues by making amendments to the SRO.”

Under the scheme, tax rates will be collected from shopkeepers in 42 cities across the country at a fixed rate of Rs100 to Rs20,000 per month, based on the fair market value of their stores.