Traders of Lahore are divided on the shutter down strike call given by President, Qaumi Tajir Ittehad, Irfan Iqbal Sheikh, against massive load shedding, fuel adjustment surcharge, increase in the prices of petroleum products and CNG on Saturday in Lahore.
Central general secretary of All Pakistan Anjuman-e-Tajiran Naeem Mir and President Anjuman-e-Tajiran (Ashraf Bhatti group) have announced their dissociation from the strike call. They announced that their traders will open their shops as usual on Saturday, however, they announced that they will fully participate in the rally announced by Pakistan Muslim League (N) against power outages.
In their statements they warned the government to end power cuts within seven days otherwise traders from all markets of the provincial capital will besiege and lock the Wapda House. They said that the government has just deferred the implementation of fuel adjustment surcharge and traders want the government to abolish it permanently.
They also said that their protest will continue until the complete abolition of this unjustified and cruel billing system. While President Anjuman-e-Tajiran (Khalid Pervez Group) has announced to observe complete shutter-down strike in Lahore on Saturday. In its statement Khalid Pervez said that that 15-20 hour load shedding a day has ruined the businesses.
He also said that if load shedding problem is not solved protests would be held at other cities of the country as well. Qaumi Tajir Ittehad President said the shutter down strike on Saturday will be a referendum against the federal government.