ISLAMABAD/LAHORE/KARACHI: Rejecting the government’s incentive package, one faction of the All Pakistan Anjuman-i-Tajiran (APAT) has announced that traders will observe a countrywide strike on Saturday against the imposition of withholding tax on banking transactions of over Rs50,000 for non-filers of income tax returns.

The Lahore-based APAT faction led by Naeem Mir, which had signed an agreement with the FBR under which the tax on banking transactions was reduced from 0.6 per cent to 0.3pc on the condition that traders would file tax returns, later backtracked on it and called for the strike on Saturday.

Also read: Six parties back traders’ strike call against withholding tax

Another faction of the APAT led by Khaled Pervez has already called a countrywide strike on August 5. The group claiming to have support of shopkeepers in Lahore and other parts of the country has reportedly announced the strike against the Naeem Mir group.

The Khaled Pervez group has not held any meeting with the government and demanded complete withdrawal of the tax on banking transactions.

“Our strike call was actually against the Mir Group,” All Karachi Tajir Ittehad Chairman Atiq Mir told Dawn. “We will support the Aug 5 strike call,” he added.

Naeem Mir, who is president of the PTI Trade Wing in Lahore, boycotted Friday’s meeting at the Federal Board of Revenue and instead demanded withdrawal of the tax before coming to negotiating table.

Mr Mir is believed to have partial support across Punjab, including Islamabad.

On Friday, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar assured president of the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) Mian Idrees and its former president Zubair Tufail that the government would resolve all issues of the traders’ community after they came into the tax net. He also offered a package of incentives, including exemption from audit for a period of three years but said that traders would have to show a growth of 25pc each year in the payment of taxes during that period.

He said strikes would badly affect the economy. He also offered to establish a cell in the FBR to facilitate taxpayers in the filing of returns. “The withholding tax applies only to non-filers and the business community should have a clear understanding of this fact,” he said.

Former FPCCI president Zubair Tufail told Dawn that the minister assured the business community of resolving all their issues by end of August.

The finance minister said this was a golden opportunity for the traders to file their returns because by doing so they would automatically be exempted from withholding tax on banking transactions. He said the traders should remove any doubt from their minds that they would be subjected to persecution in future, he added.

While the FPCCI, which has been in contact with the government on the matter, said it would work as a bridge between the traders and FBR, its representatives in Islamabad and Rawalpindi are divided over the strike calls.

Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry President Muzammil Hussain Sabri told Dawn that the chamber would remain neutral but would support the two groups which were going for strike on Saturday and Aug 5. However, he said the chamber would continue to hold talks with the government to reach an amicable resolution of the issue.

APAT (Khwaja Shafique group) central secretary general Naeem Mir said all markets and business centres from Karachi to Khyber would remain closed on Saturday in protest against the withholding tax on banking transactions.

Addressing a press conference at the Lahore Press Club along with office-bearers of organisations of different markets and bazaars, he said the strike would be a referendum against the government.

“Whoever will open business or shop on Saturday will be enemy of the traders and damage their cause,” he said, adding that the door for negotiations with the government had now been closed and those still holding talks with the government were “not among us”.

In Karachi, All Pakistan Organisation of Small Traders and Cottage Industries finalised preparations to observe the shutter-down strike on Saturday. In this regard, its chief Hamid Mehmood visited all main markets along with office-bearers of the organisation.

Published in Dawn, August 1st, 2015

On a mobile phone? Get the Dawn Mobile App: Apple Store | Google Play