RAWALPINDI: Groups of traders have announced plans to stage a protest at Fawara Chowk on Wednesday in order to pressure the government to withdraw the 0.6 per cent withholding tax on bank transactions.

The three groups are united on a one point agenda, and are supported by the ruling political party’s traders’ cell, led by Shahid Ghafoor Paracha.

The groups, led by Sheikh Saddique, Shahid Ghafoor Paracha and Arshad Awan, will organise a joint protest on Wednesday evening.

“We will protest, and all the traders in Rawalpindi will participate,” Naveed Kanwal, spokesperson for the supreme council of Rawalpindi traders, said.

Kanwal said that stores and bazaars will remain open on Wednesday, but added that traders from various markets will congregate at Raja Bazaar to protest for their rights.

“If the government fails to withdraw the tax, traders will boycott banks on September 4, and a shutter-down strike will be carried out across the country on September 9,” Kanwal said.

He added that the protest will demonstrate the traders’ unanimous intent.

“The groups are united against the government, as it has failed to deliver,” he said.

Paracha said that traders have been facing financial difficulties for two years due to the PML-N government’s policies. He said that the imposition of the withholding tax on bank transactions has forced traders to come out onto the streets for their rights, and added that the government should acquiesce to the traders’ demands.

He said that many traders in the city belong to PML-N, but said that they would not support government policies that adversely affect traders and the masses.

Published in Dawn, September 2nd, 2015

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