Traders, paramedics stage demos on The Mall

Country will be brought to a standstill if merchandise is not returned, say traders

LAHORE:

Traffic remained suspended on The Mall for several hours on Monday as dozens of traders from Bilal Ganj and members of the Paramedical Staff Association staged demonstrations in front of the Punjab Assembly and blocked the road.

The traders were protesting agianst an early morning raid at their warehouses by Customs officials. They said goods for which customs duty had been paid was confiscated during the raid.



Speaking to The Express Tribune, Sheikh Arshad of the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) said the raiding officials had stolen merchandise from their godowns. He said they had cleared all taxes for the goods and there was no justifciation for the raid.

The protesting traders chanted slogans against the customs officials and blocked the road by burning tyres.

The protesters dispersed after All Pakistan Traders’ Association president Khalid Pervaiz announced that negotiations with customs officials had been successful. He said merchanidise for which customs duty had been paid would be returned to the traders. The traders could take the payment reciepets to the customs office and claim their merchandise, he said.

Pervaiz said the officials had been warned that traders would bring the entire country to a stanstill if the goods were not returned as promised.



The traders were joined by members of the paramedical staff associationn who had reached Faisal Chowk in the form of a rally that started from Cooper Road.

The paramedics ended their protest with an announcmenet that they would soon lay siege to the Health DG’s office. Paramedics Health Alliance chairman Malik Munir said the seige would continue till their demands for implementation of a revised service structure and and provision of a risk allowance for non-technical staff was met by the government.

One of the protesters, Muhammad Shoaib, said the revised service structure had been approved in November 2011. However, he said the government had yet to implement it. He said another demand of the protesters was the establishment of a Paramedics and Allied Health Professionals’ Council.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 15^th, 2015.