Traders announce four-day countrywide strike

MULTAN: Markazi Anjuman Tajran Pakistan Wednesday announced a four-day countrywide strike on August 15-16 and August 26-27 after consultation with trader bodies of Lahore, Karachi and Islamabad.According to strike organisers, traders have made their utmost efforts to draw a solution but the government was not willing to settle the issues with traders. Addressing a joint press conference at Multan Press Club on Wednesday, MATP chairman Khawaja Suleman Siddiqui said the shutter down call may be extended depending upon the attitude of the government.He said the government was dealing traders in a funny way. He said traders are ready to pay taxes but the stance of the government is hard and the government is imposing unfair conditions that are unacceptable to them at any level.He said earlier the government officials met traders’ bodies separately allegedly in a bid to create differences among traders and convinced some traders of Karachi and Islamabad to drop protest call but all traders have finally decided to join the countrywide protest on August 15-16.Siddiqui said if the government did not show willingness to review taxes, traders would observe shutter down on August 26-27 that might be extended for an indefinite period of time.He said the MATP would take out rally from Hussein Agahi chowk on August 5 in this connection. He said traders were paying taxes and small traders are facing serious difficulties in arranging an accountant at Rs 15,000 to Rs 20, 000 while dealing business in coins.He said the government demanded keeping record of CNIC at the sale of Rs 50, 000, submission of sales tax documents along with each bill. He said the traders would face serious problems in case missing of one bill.He said major problem is related to manufacturers charge sales tax before the delivery of goods without issuing any receipt. He said the second problem is related with cottage industry, involved in the business with keeping record of bills. The small traders are hardly to keep record of the whole sale. The government should collect sales tax from manufacturers instead shopkeepers and small business holders.He said there is confusion on size of shops because big shopkeepers are forced to sell their commodities on higher rates due to burden of taxes but the small shopkeepers were selling same commodities on lower rates than big shops.Siddiqui demanded the government to hold dialogues with real representatives of traders to solve the problem. Representatives of trade bodies Sheikh Akram Hakim, Sheikh Javed Akhtar, Muhammad Idrees Butt, Malik Amir Awan, Syed Jafar Ali Shah, Khalid Mehmood Qureshi, Zeshan Siddiqui, Mirza Naeem Baig, Nadeem Qureshi, Arshad Kashmiri, Shahid Mehmood Ansari and others were present on the occasion.

from The News International - National https://ift.tt/2GGVFxR