Billions in losses as Pakistani traders on strike in solidarity with protesting religious party

KARACHI: Major business centers and retail markets across Pakistan remained shut on Monday following a strike call by the leaders of various religious and political parties to show solidarity with a recently banned rightwing party, the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP), that has been engaged in clashes with police since last Monday.
Demonstrations erupted in major Pakistani cities and quickly turned violent after TLP chief Saad Rizvi was arrested last Monday after he threatened to launch a major campaign against the government if it did not expel France’s envoy to Islamabad over blasphemous caricatures of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) printed in a French publication.
On Sunday, cleric Mufti Muneeb-ur-Rehman announced a countrywide strike to show solidarity with the supporters of TLP whom he called victims of police brutality.
Following the strike call, business activity and public transportation remained suspended in Pakistan’s commercial hub of Karachi.
Kashif Chaudhry, the president of the Markazi Tanzeem-e-Tajran Pakistan, a federal association of traders, said the body had taken the decision to shutdown businesses at 2am and had received “overwhelming response” from across the country.
“All major urban and rural business centers across Pakistan are closed,” Chaudhry told Arab News. “Around eighty to ninety billion rupees worth of business activity is generated across the country daily,” he added, commenting on possible losses from the closures.
Around Rs4 billion worth of business activity was suspended in Karachi alone, said Atiq Mir, the chairman of the All Karachi Tajir Ittehad, an umbrella organization that represents major business centers in the city. “Every day these markets generate Rs4 billion worth of businesses activities in the port city of Karachi”.
Traders in the capital city, Islamabad, also kept their businesses shut and staged protest demonstrations. Similarly, trading in Lahore, Multan, Rawalpindi, Hyderabad and Peshawar remained suspended, according to industry leaders.
The Pakistan Stock Exchange opened the day on a bearish note, with the benchmark KSE 100 index posting an intra-day low of -694 points or 1.53%.
However, ongoing negotiations between the government and protesting parties buoyed sentiment and helped the market recover from its low to close at 44,966 with a 392 points or 0.87% decline, according to a Topline Securities market review.
“Stocks closed bearish amid pressure on security unrest in the country,” Ahsan Mehanti, the chief executive of Arif Habib Corporation, told Arab News. “Mid-session support witnessed in earning season on higher global crude oil prices and strong financial results in fertilizer and oil sectors.”