Out on the road: Traders protest against withholding tax on transactions

Protesters blocked traffic and burnt tyres at various bazaars, leading towards the Clock Tower and chanted slogans

FAISALABAD: Hundreds of traders and shopkeepers protested against withholding tax on bank transaction, rampant encroachments, inadequate parking facilities, gas loadshedding and increasing incidents of robbery in the city.

The protesters blocked traffic and burnt old tyres at various bazaars, leading towards the Clock Tower and chanted slogans against the tax authorities.

Anjuman Tajiran City of Faisalabad President Khawaja Shahid Razzaq Sikka said the tax authorities were harassing business community that was suffering huge losses.

He accused the tax administration for unnecessarily harassing the business community and said the traders would not allow them to blackmail them. “If the federal government does not take notice of highhandedness we will go on a strike for an indefinite period,” he warned.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 10^th, 2017.