Traders on Thursday rallied to support Rangers and protest PPP-government's move to trim the law enforcers' powers barring them from clampdown on terrorism abettors and financers of terrorism. With placards in hands reading "restore Rangers powers', the chanting tradesmen gathered at Sindh Assembly while waving the national flags, who slammed the provincial government for limiting the Rangers' powers.
Vowing to continue protest till the government steps back and restores all the powers to the law enforcers, the charged traders said that limiting the Rangers authority would rather help grow terrorism and unrest in the long-bleeding metropolis. The protest rally however left vehicular traffic bogged-down on different roads all around the provincial legislature, stranding the commuters. The rally was in solidarity with Rangers by the insecure traders, who reckon the paramilitary force as their salvagers amid unrest in the city.
"Limiting the Rangers powers will endanger efforts for ensuring lasting peace in the city," Chairman All Karachi Tajir Ittehad, Atiq Mir told protesting traders, saying that "the city cannot afford a return to the two-year back violent and upset circumstances". With adopting the resolution, he said the Sindh government had dashed the traders and industrialists hopes for peace.
"The move of Sindh government to limit Rangers powers against outlaws and their abettors will virtually shake the traders' confidence for a peaceful city," he told the angry traders, saying that "the government's move to shield few individuals' interests will in fact leave the public and traders insecure".
The improved peace will help grow trade and commercial activities in the city, he said, adding that "any decision of the government that is risking the city's peace will be unacceptable". The recent move of the ruling PPP will have a negative impact on the law enforcers efforts. "The city is feared to plunge to similar unrest," he warned the PPP lawmakers and the Sindh government, saying that the traders would rather protest for the restoration of Rangers powers.
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