Jirga demands end to lockdown, compensation to traders

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar Qaumi Jirga has demanded the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government to lift the lockdown from the provincial capital and compensate traders for the losses.

The jirga also asked the government to exempt traders from all taxes and put an end to unscheduled electricity loadshedding in the rural and urban areas of Peshawar. An important meeting of the jirga was held at the residence of PML(N) leader and Jirga Spokesperson Arbab Khizer Hayat and chaired by the former minister JUI-F and Jirga President Maulana Amanullah Haqqani.

It was attended by the chairman Khalid Ayub, ANP’s ex-MPA and Jirga’s patron-in-chief Alamgir Khalil, JI’s ex minister and jirga general secretary Kashif Azam Khan.

PPP’s ex-minister and Jirga’s vice president Ziaullah Afridi, QWP, Peshawar chairman and Jirga’s vice president Malik Nadeem, Peshawar Anjuman Tajiran leaders Haji Mohammad Afzal, Habibullah Zahid, Mujeeb-ur-Rehman , Haji Mohammad Nawaz etc. The meeting warned the government that the residents of Peshawar will not pay taxes and utility bills besides resorting to cordon of the Governor and CM Houses and locking Wapda House.

The meeting asked the government to end lockdown and allow trading and business activities with instructions to observe social distancing. It observed that traders cannot afford to keep businesses shut any longer as many of them are facing serious economic problems and cannot pay even their shops’ monthly rents. It added that labourers working at the factories and shops are also finding it hard to earn a living for their families. The meeting asked the government to exempt the people of Peshawar from paying utility bills at least for three months. It threatened that the masses would resort to civil obedience if the demands are not met.

It further asked the government to exempt trader from payment of all kinds of taxes as they cannot afford the same for being in a war-like situation due to coronavirus pandemic and are unable to deposit the taxes. The jirga meeting asked for putting an end to loadshedding as it is unjustified when all business centres and factories are closed. It threatened to lock the Peshawar’s Wapda House if the demand is not met immediately. Special prayers were offered at the meeting for an immediate end to the corona virus pandemic in the world.