FAISALABAD: The chairman of the Supreme Anjuman-i-Tajran City has protested against the district administration for not allowing him to attend the prime minister’s function despite official invitation.

Traders of Jail Road and Narawala Road also faced issues as the administration allegedly forced them to shut their shops en route the prime minister’s convoy.

Aslam Bhali along with others had met PML-N leader Maryam Nawaz on Monday and Bhali claimed that he was refused entry due to the meeting.

Talking to reporters outside the hotel, Bhali showed the invitation dispatched to him by the district administration to attend the function. He said he came here as a representative of the traders who had been facing numerous issues.

He said it seemed his name had been excluded from the guests list as a ‘punishment’ that was why he had met Maryam Nawaz with a delegation.

“I came to see Prime Minister Imran Khan to present him the issues the traders had been facing to run their businesses. I am a representative of traders having no political affiliation, so being their voice I have to meet everyone to resolve issues.”

Traders, talking to the media, said the prime minister came to Faisalabad for solution to the issues being faced by the business community, while on the contrary the district administration created problems for them by forcible closure of their shops.

They said during the election campaign the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaaf had been criticising the VIP culture in the country and vowed to eliminate it. However, the administration forced us to close the shops due to the VIP movement.

Traffic leading to the Serena Hotel Road also remained suspended due to the event.

Published in Dawn, November 19th, 2020