Traders say forced to shut businesses

Complain of harassment by baton-wielding activists

LAHORE:

Baton-wielding workers of a party forcibly shut down the Kashmir Block, Karachi Block and several other markets in Lahore on Monday despite refusal of the traders to comply with their strike call against inflation and hike in fuel prices.

On February 17, the TLP had given a 72-hour 'ultimatum' to the federal government to withdraw the latest hike on petroleum products, warning it of dire consequences if the prices are not brought down.

TLP chief Saad Hussain Rizvi had warned that if the government does not withdraw the price hike, the party would do "what it is known for"—a reference to protest marches in the recent past that brought the federal capital to a standstill.

Read TLP forcibly shuts markets in Lahore despite traders' refusal

Traders in the Punjab provincial capital complained of harassment allegedly by TLP workers.

The traders claimed that TLP workers forcibly closed Kashmir Block, Karachi Block, Azam Market, New Alamgir Market, Shah Alam and many other commercial areas.

President of the Lahore Traders Association, Mujahid Maqsood Butt, said TLP baton-wielding workers were roaming the markets in the form of groups on motorbikes and forcibly closed the road leading to Niazi Adda and the market around the Shizan Factory area of the provincial capital.

Similarly, a group of TLP workers closed the entrance of the city’s main commercial Hall Road, where a large number of shopkeepers gathered outside their shops and demanded the government to provide them security.

The traders in Urdu Bazaar said a group of 20 to 25 TLP motorcyclists closed the shops and Shah Alam market despite the presence of the police.

The Lahore traders’ association president appealed to the administration for protection, saying that some elements are openly threatening the tax payers while police are playing the role of a spectator.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 28^th, 2023.