Protest against increase in power, gas tariff: partial strike observed in various cities of Southern Punjab

Partial strike was observed in various cities of Southern Punjab, including Multan, Vehari, Rahimyarkhan, Bahawalpur, Khanewal, Lodhran, Dera Ghazi Khan and others at the call of all Pakistan Traders Alliance and Chamber of Small Traders on Wednesday. However, no untoward incident was occurred in Southern Punjab. All main markets like Wholesale cloth market of Andhi Khoi, Chowk Bazar, Hussain Agahi, Madni market Gulshan Market remained closed.
The leaders Khawaja Muhammad Shafiq and Khalid Mehmood Qureshi claimed." Complete shutter down was observed in South Punjab, which was a referendum against government's policies. They said a long march would be launched to Islamabad in second phase of protest if government did not withdraw an increase of 12 percent in electricity and 18 percent in gas.
They said, "We have no political motive nor we are launching this drive against any personality but we are endeavouring for the cause of our problems." They also opposed the withholding tax on drawing the amount and Value added tax describing it harmful to business community.
They warned that traders would not accept any change in the existing taxation system. It may be recalled that All Pakistan Traders Convention has announced to observe complete shutter down on Wednesday in Southern Punjab, besides holding protest rallies each week.
It warned of more demonstrations if unannounced load shedding was not stopped immediately. Traders leaders Muhammad Shafiq, Basharat Shaukat, Irshad Hussain Bhatti, Taj-din, Khalil Ahmed, Ehsan-ul-Haq and Akbar Shaheen in Vehari said that traders of southern Punjab were paying more taxes than Faisalabad and other big cities and they pay utility bills well in time regularly.
In spite of that 16 to 20 hours loadshedding was being observed in this region. They appealed to Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif to look into the matter which was badly hitting the entire trading sector hard. They said prolonged power outages had forced them to launch a protest but if the Multan Electric Power Company (Mepco) failed to meet its commitment, they would be left with no option but to stage more protests.
They said the business community was under the impression that there was an acute shortage of electricity in the country and they were ready to cooperate with the government, but unfortunately unannounced power outages had pushed the entire business as well as industrial sector to the wall and forced them to take out to the streets.
They said that thousands of industrial workers were facing the threat of unemployment in the wake of non-availability of electricity but the government was playing the role of a silent spectator. They said the economic crisis would further deepen in coming days as the industry had failed to meet existing export orders let alone new orders. Traders said that bureaucracy was not interested in improving the situation and was pushing the industrialists to come on streets.