FAISALABAD, Sept 18: Traders have split over the issue of observing a strike on Sept 23 against taxation policies, especially the self-assessment scheme.

Members of the group which is in favour of the strike have launched a shop-to-shop campaign for a successful shutter down, while the other group has termed the motive behind the strike political.

Anjuman Tajiran city president Shaikh Taj Mahmood and representatives of other trade bodies, including Rizwan Sadiq, Tariq Mahmood, Zulfiqar Niazi, Rana Tajammal, Shaikh Ijaz and Mian Rafi, are in the forefront to foil the strike call given by the Pakistan Traders Alliance.

In a statement on Wednesday, they said there was no justification to observe a strike because the process of documentation and introduction of the self-assessment scheme were not against the interests of small shopkeepers.

They alleged that some so-called trade leaders were playing in the hands of anti-government forces and creating problems in the way of government agencies without any justification. The disputed matters should be resolved through talks as both the traders and the government were not in a position to sustain more financial losses due to strikes and demonstrations, they said.

On the other hand, Faisalabad Anjuman Tajiran president Mohammed Nawaz Vohra, All-Pakistan Anjuman Tajiran central chairman Abdul Mannan, Nisar Butt, Malik Faiz, Shaikh Bashir and Chaudhry Mohammed Aslam described the government decision to introduce the self-assessment scheme as a sword hanging over the traders.

They said a complete strike in the city and adjoining areas would be observed on Sept 23.