Jinnah Super Market Traders Welfare Association President and former Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry (ICCI) president Ejaz Abbasi has said the local traders were suffering great business losses due to political sit-ins in Islamabad and called upon the government to urgently resolve this issue through dialogue to save the traders from further difficulties.
Abbasi said the call for November 30, 2014 political rally has created lot of concerns in the business community. He stressed that government should settle all political matters through the process of negotiations and put complete ban on political protests in the federal capital to avoid any disturbances to business activities.
Abbasi said that traders could have their own views on various matters, however, they all on the same page to keep the national interest supreme. He said for the last few months, business activities in Islamabad have badly suffered due to which traders are unable to meet even their day-to-day expenses. He called upon the protesting parties to take due care of the interests of business community while launching such moves.
Abbasi also appealed to the FBR chairman to exempt affected traders of Islamabad from tax liability as they have suffered huge losses due to political dharnas and were unable to file income tax returns. He said due to expected political rally on November 30, 2014, the local administration has again started to confiscate containers and it seems the citizens of Islamabad will again be confined to their houses causing more loss to businesses.
Abbasi warned the administration to avoid such tactics, otherwise a meeting of all traders would be called to finalize future strategy to get rid of political sit-ins and protests. He also appealed to the prime minister of Pakistan to save the local traders and residents from further troubles on account of political dharnas.
