KARACHI: Consensus failed to develop amongst various trade bodies in the city over the post Eidul Azha strike call given by All Pakistan Markazi Anjuman Tajiran (APMAT), with some groups stressing that ‘continued dialogue with the government must be the preferred route’.

A meeting held few days ago at a local hotel in Karachi was called upon to bring all trade bodies on one page besides garnering support for countrywide shut down on August 15-16, 2019. However, things have not worked out so far.

Earlier on, owing to the split among trade bodies, Karachi witnessed partial closure of markets and shopping centres on July 13.

A member of Karachi Tajir Action Committee (KTAC), Sharjeel Gopalani said the association’s members will meet with Federal Board of Revenue Chairman Shabbar Zaidi on Monday at the FBR House in Islamabad to discuss budgetary measures and their negative impact on trade.

When asked whether he would support the call for a countrywide shutter down strike on August 15-16, he said, “We believe in holding discussions with the FBR to resolve the issues.” Besides, he said, two main leaders of APMAT Naeem Mir and Kashif Chaudhry have not contacted him regarding a decision on the strike call.

Sharjeel also claimed that the KTAC members, who are going to meet chairman FBR, also include those market representatives who had closed down their shops on July 13.

He said the committee would hold meetings on the 11-point agenda besides various SROs owing to which trade and business activities had been adversely affected. “We are also not satisfied on fixed tax regime proposal,” he added.

President Karachi Electronic Dealers Association (KEDA), Mohammad Irfan Rizwan, said he would first take his members into confidence and then decide to become part of KTAC’s Monday meeting.

The Electronics Market in Karachi saw a complete shutter down on July 13.

“It is true that various trade bodies of Karachi have yet to take a united stand on the harsh budgetary measures and every association has its own agenda,” he said. “Many traders know that the government has not resolved any issues that created problems for business community since Budget 2019-20, he added.

Some traders’ groups had deviated from the July 13 strike call. These groups were engaged in the meeting with the government representatives while traders belonging to the other camp had kept their shutters down to support Punjab-based traders’ body.

Chairman All Karachi Tajir Itehad (AKTI), Atiq Mir said he had no information regarding the FBR meeting with the KTAC.

However, he hoped that the FBR chief would come to Karachi next week to resolve various issues before country wide closure.

On this issue of fixed tax regime, he said, “The government needs to make some amendments. Traders are not agreeing to pay fixed tax per square ft of shops. Instead, the FBR should make it easy for collecting fixed tax on sale volume of shopkeepers.”

He said he could not understand why some members of the KTAC are willing to meet FBR chief when these trade representatives had been claiming that the government had resolved their major issues.

One of the main issues of going for shutdown post Eid is the mandatory requirement of providing CNIC for sale and purchase of goods of transaction of Rs50,000 and above. However, so far trade bodies are not ready to comply with the requirement.

Talking to Dawn APMAT Central General Secretary Naeem Mir said that chairman Khawaja Mohammad Shafiq is going to Karachi on Monday to meet all the market representatives to make the post-Eid market shutdown a real success.

He said the feedback of trade representatives of Karachi would be more important for making future strategy.

Mir said he had been mainly in regular touch with Atiq Mir, Mohammad Rizwan and Jamil Paracha but would try to contact others if they complain for not reaching them.

When asked that a group of traders is meeting the FBR chairman on Monday, he said he had no knowledge.

He admitted that the July 13 strike in Karachi remained partial owing to difference of opinion among trade bodies.

Markaze Tanzeeme Tajiran Pakistan President Kashif Chaudhry told Dawn that he had been trying to contact all trade bodies of Karachi to firm up their support for a country-wide shutter down after Eid.When asked that some members of Karachi Tajir Action Committee (KTAC) had complained regarding no contact, he said “I have been trying to bring them on one page. I am going to Karachi on Sunday to intensify efforts for traders’ united stand on strike.

Published in Dawn, August 4th, 2019