Traders in Pakistan went on strike today, Wednesday, shutting down their businesses in all major cities and urban areas to protest a rise in electricity costs, new taxes imposed on shop owners and brisk inflation.
A major Pakistani religio-political party, the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), as well as the opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, have thrown their weight behind the traders’ nationwide strike call.
Most of the public markets across Pakistan were closed on Wednesday, though pharmacies and grocery stores selling basic food items remained open. Stores were shuttered in the Pakistani capital of Islamabad, the nearby garrison city of Rawalpindi, as well as in the city of Lahore, the country’s culture capital, and the main economic hub of Karachi.
However, traders in the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the southwestern Balochistan provinces observed a partial strike, keeping some stores open while closing others.
“We are holding a nationwide strike tomorrow [Wednesday] to …. extend relief to the public as early as possible,” top JI leader Liaqat Baloch told Arab News on Tuesday.
“If the government fails to listen to the genuine demands of the public and extend relief, we will be left with no option to start a long march toward Islamabad.” Traders said they were protesting “hefty taxes” imposed on retailers through a Tajir Dost Scheme, a voluntary tax compliance program under which businesses can declare their assets and incomes and potentially receive benefits like reduced tax rates and simplified tax compliance procedures.
“Our businesses have reduced around seventy percent in a year due to the deteriorating economy while the government is imposing heavy taxes on traders who are struggling to keep afloat,” Ajmal Baloch, President of Markazi Anjuman Tajran Pakistan, a traders’ union, said.
“We have been demanding the government to withdraw these regressive tax measures that would adversely affect the economic growth in the country.”
Ajmal said traders would march toward Islamabad if their demands were not met after Wednesday’s strike.
