RAWALPINDI: Traders from the garrison city on Wednesday urged the government to rein in the Punjab Revenue Authority (PRA) and the Federal Bureau of Revenue (FBR), claiming their officials treated traders and taxpayers like criminals, and warned that they would launch a protest against the federal and provincial governments.

The PRA, accompanied by Special Branch teams, raided business outlets such as Healthways, Metro Shoes, Al Janaat, Pahachan, City Laboratory and Grace Fabric a few days ago. Following the raids, traders banded together against what they called criminal treatment of traders by authority officials.

On Wednesday, Rawalpindi’s traders associations gathered at the Rawalpindi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (RCCI) to devise their plan for joint action.

During the meeting, they discussed the prevailing situation of raids on and closing of business centres by the PRA and the FBR.

The meeting was chaired by RCCI President Mian Humayun Parvez, and attended by members of the RCCI executive committee and traders associations’ representatives including Sheikh Sadiq, Shahid Ghafoor Paracha, Malik Zahoor, Sharjeel Mir, Chaudhry Iqbal, Tariq Jadoon and Zahid Bakhtawari. Mr Parvez said the PRA should not harass traders in the name of tax collection, and urged the government to stop the practice immediately.

He said the chamber had received complaints from traders about raids on their business centres, as well as claimed that they were sealed without being served notices. He said the chamber was the right platform to address such matters amicably.

He asked the government, and particularly the FBR, to extend the date for annual tax returns, arguing that most tax consultants were on Haj or Eid holiday.

Traders associations’ representatives said traders were paying their taxes and boosting trade activities. Pakistan Traders Association spokesperson Naveed Kanwal told Dawn: “PRA employees misbehave with us during raids and treat us like we are criminals.”

“This is concerning because it damages the ego and reputation of the business centre. If they continue the practice, we will call for a strike and shut down the whole city,” he said.

Mr Kanwal added that traders are not against the collection of taxes, but the procedure used by the PRA and the FBR to do so. He said no such campaigns were launched in Lahore or Faisalabad, where business tycoons hide their incomes without any fears while the campaign was limited to Rawalpindi.

“The FBR and the PRA sent notices to traders on incomplete addresses and owners could not respond in time. Upon this, PRA and FBR teams raided and confiscated computers and account books with the help of the police and intelligence agencies, and harassed them.”

“The raids increased corruption, as traders had no choice but to avoid the raids to save themselves. The tax collection system should be improved,” he said.

Rawalpindi Traders Association leader Sharjeel Mir said: “The government should first arrest those whose names appeared in the Panama Papers, and then ask others to clear their names. In developed countries, people pay taxes and in return the government provides them with health, education and civic facilities, but in Pakistan the government puts the burden of taxes on the middle class and the common man instead of bringing industrialists and feudal into the tax net.”

He said traders would agitate against the government if it did not stop the PRA and FBR from harassing average citizens and traders soon. “We did not want to come out onto the streets, but the government is taking steps that force traders to do so,” he said.

Published in Dawn, September 22nd, 2016