LAHORE: The All Pakistan Anjuman-e-Tajran (APAT) leadership has rolled up their sleeves for staging a sit-in in Rawalpindi's Faizabad Chowk today.

According to the mobilization schedule unveiled on Monday, the caravans of traders (from Punjab and Southern districts) will reach Bhera service/rest area at sharp 12:00pm from where they will leave for the Faizabad Chowk at 1:00pm sharp in shape of a huge rally.

For traders coming from Gujrat and its adjoining areas, the APAT has advised its supporters and office-bearers to take alternative routes like motorways because the government had dug up deep ditches on G.T Road to stop the charged activists of proscribed Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) from marching on the federal capital.

The APAT said the caravans coming from Peshawar and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa will reach Peshawar-Islamabad motorway toll plaza at around 3:00pm from where they will meet the caravans coming from Lahore and other parts of the country and then they will jointly leave for the Faizabad Chowk.

According to APAT Central General Secretary Naeem Mir, the traders of Rawalpindi will reach Nawaz Sharif Park at sharp 3:00pm and then leave for the Faizabad. Similarly, the traders of Islamabad will gather at Zero Point and will leave for the Faizabad Chowk at sharp 3:00pm. However, the caravans coming from Azad Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan will directly reach the venue, he added.

Last month, the APAT had also staged a protest outside the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) Islamabad office after the federal government promulgated the Tax Laws (Third Amendment) Ordinance-2021 giving wide-ranging powers to the FBR to disable mobile phone SIMs and disconnect electricity and gas connections of non-filers through data matching with the National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) using artificial intelligence.

The protest was however called off after the key alliance Markazi Tanzeem Tajran Pakistan (MTTP) parted its ways with the APAT. "The confusions and misunderstandings of small traders, especially with reference to the ordinance have been addressed," said MTTP President Kashif Chaudhry after holding talks with the FBR officials. He said the key objective was to register professionals and un-registered traders who were operating from their homes, adding that the application of Point of Sale (POS) did not pertain to small traders who were not required to install it.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021