LAHORE: Traders in Punjab failed to adopt a unified protest strategy for Tuesday (today) after their two major bodies remained divided on Monday over a country-wide shutter down against the imposition of 0.6 per cent advance adjustable tax on banking transactions worth over Rs50,000.

While the All Pakistan Anjuman-i-Tajiran President Khalid Pervaiz and its Lahore chapter president Maqsood Butt announced a strike, Anjuman-i-Tajiran Pakistan chief Ashraf Bhatti decided not to be part of the protest, pinning his hopes on a meeting called by the finance minister to be attended by Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) officials and traders to sort out the issue within a couple of days.

The Pakistan Flour Mills Association (PFMA) also announced a country-wide strike for an indefinite period from July 11 against the tax on banking transactions and 7pc sales tax on wheat bran.

Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, according to a handout, contacted Finance Minister Ishaq Dar and discussed traders reservations with regard to the tax imposed on banking transactions.

On chief minister’s behalf, a traders’ delegation will meet the finance minister in Islamabad to convey him their reservations and problems. FBR senior officials will also attend the meeting.

In the provincial capital, traders of Shahalam Market, Urdu Bazaar, Liberty Market, Hafeez Centre, Hall Road, Cantonment Board and Jail Road will keep their businesses shut, while Ichhra market, Anarkali Bazaar, Karim Block market and Township bazaar will remain partially closed.

However, shops on The Mall, in Loha Market and markets in Shahdara will remain open.

In Faisalabad, various traders bodies of the Clock Tower bazaars and markets, including the yarn market, and the District Bar Association will observe a strike.

However, Anjuman-i-Tajran city, Saka Group, will not go on strike and its president Shahid Razzaq Saka said they were mulling over their protest strategy.

A shutter-down strike has also been announced by the Anjuman-i-Tajran Yarn markets, Grey Cloth Association, Mandar Gali Market, Gole Karyana, Gole Cloth, Anjuman-i-Ahrtian (commission agents), Old Spare Parts Association, Pharmaceutical Association, Railway Road Association, Kabar Market, Tata Bazaar and Grain Market Association.

Pakistan Cotton Ginners’ Association (PCGA) also rejected the tax on bank transactions, terming it non-implementable.

In Multan, traders of various localities, including Tughlaq Road, Kalay Mandi and Alang Harram Gate also held protest demonstrations against the tax imposition.

An emergency meeting of the All Pakistan Anjuman-i-Tajiran (APAT) announced a token shutter-down strike.

The meeting decided the traders would observe a strike till 12pm on Tuesday in all the cities of south Punjab, including Multan, while a protest demonstration would be held at Chowk Haram Gate at 11am.

In a related development, the PFMA office-bearers at a meeting at their Shadman office in Lahore gave a three-day deadline to the federal government to withdraw both taxes. Otherwise, they warned, the millers would stop wheat washing from July 10 and stop flour production from July 11.

Association’s central leader Asim Raza Ahmad, who was flanked by chairmen of its Punjab, Sindh and KP chapters and other office-bearers, told a press conference that sales tax on bran would force the mills to increase flour price by up to Rs15.

He said food items industry across the globe was exempted from taxes, adding dairy and poultry industries in Pakistan would be directly affected by the tax.

Mr Raza further said tax on bank transactions, which was aimed at targeting non-tax filers, had started affecting flour mills industry.

He said the monetary transactions had been halted since the implementation of the tax from July 1, adding that flours millers were perturbed by the new tax which would promote ‘hundi’.

Published in Dawn, July 7th, 2015

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