KHYBER: The traders community here on Wednesday observed a shutter-down strike against the proposed imposition of taxes by the federal government.

Business centres in Jamrud, Bara and Landi Kotal tehsils remained closed with the exception of food outlets and medicine stores while traffic remained thin on roads. Traders and shopkeepers held demonstrations to condemn the imposition of ‘unjust’ taxes.

Terming the imposition of the taxes ‘illegal’, they argued that the residents of merged district were still reeling under the effects of militancy.

They said that merged districts were confronted with insecurity, terrorism, unemployment and rising inflation while the federal government had taken the step.

They said that closure of the border with Afghanistan had rendered thousands of residents jobless while local traders and transporters incurred losses to the tune of millions of rupees due to the suspension of bilateral trade.

The traders’ leaders said that the new taxes would badly affect the business activities with unemployment feared to rise further while economically strangulating the traders.

They reminded the authorities that governments throughout the world were facilitating the business community by providing them concessions in taxes while implementing business friendly policies.

“In Pakistan, the case is totally opposite as more and more taxes are being imposed on the traders,” a trader said.

They accused the federal government of failing to honour its commitments made with the people of erstwhile Fata prior to its merger with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. They recalled that the federal government had promised in 2018 to provide the merged districts with Rs110 billion each year for the next 10 years.

The traders said that they would extend the strike if the government did not honour its commitments and withdraw the decision.

Published in Dawn, July 30th, 2026