PTI also extends support to traders, says excesses will not be tolerated

Lashing out at the Pakistan Peoples Party-led Sindh government, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf leaders said on Wednesday it seemed that the rulers of Sindh wanted to snatch the livelihoods of Karachi’s business community in the name of lockdown measures to control the spread of the coronavirus.

“But the PTI will not tolerate the excesses with Karachi’s traders’ community,” said opposition leader in the Sindh Assembly Haleem Adil Sheikh while meeting a delegation of traders’ leaders at his office in the assembly.

Prominent traders’ leaders, including Atiq Mir, Sharjeel Goplani, Jameel Piracha, Waqas Azam, Ahmed Shamsi, Abdul Majeed Noorani, Taib Siddiqui, Abdul Khaliq, Shahid Mandia, Muhammad Arif and Muhammad Aslam Arain, were part of the delegation.

PTI Karachi president Khurram Sherzaman, MPAs Raja Azhar, Shahnawaz Jadoon and PTI leader Naeem Adil Sheikh were present in the meeting. They criticised the “brutal” lockdown of the Sindh government and said the economy of Karachi was being destroyed and its destruction would have dire consequences for the national economy.

Showing complete solidarity with the traders, Sheikh said that after 6pm, police and district administration started their own lockdown and heavily find traders for opening shops. “From now, if anyone harasses a trader, we will break his legs,” he warned. “Like fake bank accounts, now fake fine challans are made. It would be seen if this looted money goes to the CM House or the Bilawal House.”

He said the chief minister was the head of the Sindh police. “The provincial government puts the burden on the NCOC when it suits them and bypass the NCOC when doing so suits them,” he said.

“Trade is open in Pakistan, but the lockdown is enforced in Karachi only after 6pm,” he said. Due to the timely efforts of the federal government, Pakistan was not facing an India-like situation, he said. “Poor people will die of hunger if a strict lockdown is slapped,” he said, adding that the traders should be given permission to keep open their shops till 8pm.

“We are in parliament due to the vote of Karachi. If the traders take to the streets, it would mean we will also take to the streets.” The PTI leader said 40 per cent of votes in Sindh were obtained by the opposition. He said the IGP and the chief secretary were responsible for implementing the decisions of the NCOC, and if they could not do it, they should go home. “I would recommend the federal government to transfer both these officers.”

Sherzaman said the Sindh government was creating a state within a state. “Because of excesses of the provincial government, today the business community is demanding governor’s rule in Sindh.”

Trader leader Mir said that due to the closure of markets at 6pm, the city’s traders were suffering huge losses. “Karachi’s traders have demanded of Prime Minister Imran Khan to slap governor’s rule in Sindh. They have warned that if their problems are not resolved and their demands are not met, they reserve the right of protest.”

On Tuesday, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) had also supported the traders and the business community in their demand for extending the business hours. The party had also moved a resolution in the Sindh Assembly in support of the traders.

Dr Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui, convener of the MQM-P, said that Karachi had given too much tax. “Our turn to pay taxes is over now and we wouldn’t give taxes until others start giving the taxes,” he asserted while speaking about the injustices meted out to the city.

He deplored that the city had been left at the mercy of dacoits and plunderers and the situation had gone so bad that today the peaceful traders were talking about resistance.