The traders of the city remained divided over the shutter down on Saturday and majority of the markets were opened.
There were scuffles between the two groups of traders on The Mall and police remained a silent observer on the occasion. Qaumi Tajir Ittehad Anjuman-e-Tajiran-Khalid Pervez Group announced strike in against load shedding, increase in utility bills and gas prices. However, All Pakistan Anjuman-e-Tajiran opposed the call for the strike. The trader leaders who were in favour of strike gathered at The Mall and forcibly closed the shops of the businessmen who had opened their shops, which provoked the group that was against the strike. The latter stopped the prior, which resulted in scuffles. The police came on the spot but abstained from intervening in the situation. They said any group or leader had no right to close the shops forcefully.
All Pakistan Anjuman-e-Tajiran including President Haji Abdul Manan said the traders wanted to open the shops but Qaumi Tajir Ittehad had forced them to close down. He said his faction wanted to participate in the rally announced by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz against power outages but closing down shops was not an option. Meanwhile majority of Lahore’s market remained opened and there was no participation from the traders in the rally.
