KARACHI – The traders of Karachi called off their three-day strike on Sunday after successful negotiations with Sindh Governor Imran Ismail.
The strike was supposed to begin from Monday (today), however, the traders withdrew the calls on the assurance that the government was prepared to address their reservations on tax issues.
A delegation of the Karachi Traders Action Committee (KTAC) led by Rizwan Irfan called on the governor after which Imran Ismail decided to constitute a six-member committee comprising three members each from the government and the traders’ sides for holding negotiations to address the reservations.
The governor assured the delegation that no action would be initiated against any trader until the negotiations on tax issues are concluded.
He also said that a meeting between the traders’ representatives and Prime Minister Imran Khan and his economic team would be arranged during the PM’s upcoming visit to Karachi on July 11.
During the negotiations, the governor also arranged a telephonic contact between the traders’ representatives and Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) chief Shabbar Zaidi who assured the traders of sorting out the issues pertaining to their 11-point charter of demands with mutual understanding, Dawn News reported.
Governor Ismail said that Karachi was the economic hub of the country and we would not allow the lights of the city to be dimmed.
Later, addressing the press conference along with the KTAC team, Governor Ismail quoted Mr Shabbar Zaidi as saying that in order to extricate the country from the prevailing difficult times we all have to come into the tax net.
Other members of the delegation included Jamil Paracha, Shaikh Alam, Hakim Shah and Irshad Quadri while MPAs Ramzan Ghanchi, Saleem Memon and Khurram Sherzaman also participated in the talks.
