KARACHI: Markets and wholesale merchants across Pakistan remained shut on Saturday in a strike against what traders have called ‘unjustified measures’ taken in the federal budget announced by the government last month, ostensibly as part of prior actions prescribed by the International Monetary Fund’s recent $6 billion bailout package.
While not all business associations joined the strike, the shutdown highlights the pressures facing Prime Minister Imran Khan’s government, which came to power last year promising millions of new jobs and welfare measures to help the poor. Instead, it is having to impose tough austerity measures after being forced to turn to the IMF.
Kashif Chaudhry, the president of the Markazi Tanzeem-e-Tajran Pakistan (Central Organization of Traders), called the strike a “historical” one, saying markets were closed from the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province all the way to Karachi, the capital of the southern Sindh province.
“Closure [of markets] on a single day costs the country Rs4 billion only in the city of Karachi,” said Atiq Mir, chairman of the Karachi Tajir Itehad, an umbrella group of the city’s trade associations. “Accumulated losses would be around Rs50 billion across the country.”
Traders say they are striking against a complex new system of value added taxes, discretionary powers of tax officials, a complicated income tax system and unreal tax rates. Under the measures proposed by the IMF, the government has also agreed to close loopholes and preferential rates in sales tax on sugar, steel, edible oils and medium and large retailers, hitting many businesses.
Traders are also protesting a new condition imposed by the government that customers who spend more than Rs50,000 will have to present National Identity cards.
Shabbar Zaidi, the chairman of the Federal Board of Revenue, Pakistan’s main tax collecting agency, said on Friday the condition to present ID cards would help the government identify tax dodgers in a nation where less than 1 percent of the population of 208 million even files income tax returns.
Responding to the protests, de facto information minister Firdous Ashiq Awan said the government was ready for negotiations and considered traders its partners, but warned those who were protesting due to a “political agenda.”
“We have no political ambitions, our cause is only the traders’ cause,” Kashif Chaudhry of the Markazi Tanzeem-e-Tajran Pakistan said. “We have offered talks many times and we are still ready to talk.”
Traders in Karachi, the main commercial hub of the country, said 90 percent of the city’s wholesale markets were closed, causing the city billions in losses.
Similar strikes were called in other big business centers including the eastern city of Lahore, Rawalpindi, near the capital Islamabad, and Multan, home to a major ceramics industry.
Traders on strike across Pakistan over new IMF-proposed taxes
Traders on strike across Pakistan over new IMF-proposed taxes
- Almost 90% wholesale markets remained shut in Karachi, strikes in Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Lahore, and Multan
- Protests underline pressures on government which has had to impose strict austerity measures to bolster public finances
Pakistan says it seized 32 square kilometers inside Afghanistan as border clashes escalate
- Security official describes ‘limited tactical action’ in Gudwana after Afghan assaults
- Islamabad accuses Kabul of sheltering militants as UN, China and Russia urge restraint
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has seized a 32-square-kilometer area inside Afghanistan following overnight fighting, a security official said on Saturday, as cross-border clashes between the two countries escalated sharply.
A Pakistani security official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said troops carried out a “limited tactical action” in the Gudwana area opposite the Zhob sector along the frontier, capturing Afghan territory after responding to attacks on Pakistani positions.
“On the night of Feb. 26/27, posts opposite the Zhob sector launched anticipated physical attacks on multiple Pakistani positions,” the official said, referring to fighters linked to Afghanistan’s Taliban authorities, whom Islamabad identifies as Tehreek-e-Taliban Afghanistan (TTA).
“In response to aggressive unprovoked fire and physical attacks, Pakistan security forces launched a limited tactical action on the night of Feb. 27/28 in the general area of Gudwana with a view to capture TTA Tahir Post,” he continued, adding that 32 square kilometers of Afghan territory were seized.
The official said special combat teams crossed the border after preparatory bombardment, supported by intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance assets providing “real-time battlefield awareness.”
He said 24 Afghan Taliban fighters were killed and 37 wounded, with no Pakistani casualties reported.
The claims could not be independently verified, and there was no immediate confirmation from Taliban authorities in Kabul of any territorial loss in the Gudwana area.
The latest clashes erupted after Pakistani airstrikes targeted what Islamabad described as militant hideouts inside Afghanistan over the weekend, triggering retaliatory fire along the frontier and sharply escalating long-running tensions. Islamabad accuses Kabul of sheltering Pakistani Taliban militants responsible for attacks inside Pakistan, an allegation that Afghanistan denies.
Pakistan’s Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said on Saturday evening that 352 Afghan Taliban fighters had been killed and more than 535 wounded since the latest phase of hostilities began.
Tarar said Pakistani strikes had destroyed 130 check posts, 171 tanks and armored vehicles and targeted 41 locations across Afghanistan by air. Those figures could not be independently verified.
The United Nations, as well as China and Russia, have called for restraint.
The United States said Pakistan has the right to defend itself against cross-border militancy.
