The recession-hit traders are perplexed that how to respond to the mounting pressure from various political parties on the strike, which Sindh's nationalists called against the re-promulgation of SLGO 2001, whether to open businesses or keep them shut on Saturday.
The strike call given by the Sindh's various nationalist political parties, which Awami National Party and Sunni Tehrik had supported against the government's decision to re-promulgate Sindh Local Government Ordinance (SLGO) 2001, despite it had just carried out legislation to restore commissioner system in the province. Trades told Business Recorder on the eve of strike that they could not become part of any political parties' bloc on the political issues but frequently being forced to fall to their decisions and shut businesses.
"The issue is very crucial as we are undergoing a longer recessionary period for the last several months because of widespread violence, vandalism and terrorism of target killings besides frequent electricity outages in markets. Traders are now fed-up with such troubles," said Chairman All Karachi Tahir Ittehad, Muhammad Atiq Mir. He said traders would like to resume their businesses on Saturday despite their was a strike call, as Eid sales season had just took off and they would want to end the continued recession and stabilise their financial positions.
He said the fears of strike, which largely coupled with violence and vandalism, had already panicked the traders making them undecided whether or not to open businesses, adding "however it will depend on the public response and availability of public transport on the day".
He said the situation in the markets remained peaceful since the Ramazan had begun, but now the strike had created panic amongst the traders. "Although, traders are not really serious about the strike, there is still a fear in their minds they may lose their properties and business to vandalism if opened the markets," Atiq Mir showed concerns.
He said the trade activities of the Eid shopping season had just started as about 60 percent of such retail markets across the city had increased their business hours by about six hours till 12pm and such calls of strike were feared to have negative impact on the sales at early stages.