LAHORE: Property dealers protest at Mall Road Lahore ended after police launched a crackdown against the participants of the sit-in late Thursday night.
A heavy contingent of police descended upon the protestors after negotiations between All Pakistan Property Dealers Association and police failed.
Police also arrested more than 50 protestors during the crackdown and registered cases against them.
Earlier on Thursday, representatives of the real estate sector staged a sit-in on Charing Cross (Faisal Chowk) and held a protest rally across the city against the increase in tax on property transactions.
The protesters came on their SUVs, trucks and motorcycles, waving banners and placards for this one. They also played recorded slogans on the speakers fixed on the trucks.
They said that they would continue their sit-in and keep their offices closed until the new taxes were withdrawn and their demands were accepted. They appealed to the government to withdraw the new taxes and not to raise the value of property in the country. They said that the government’s steps would not help it to achieve its revenue targets because many deals between buyers and sellers were cancelled in view of the new taxes.
Real estate agents from different parts of the country were shocked in July last year and staged protest rallies in different parts when the government imposed a new tax on property transactions.
The federal government had increased the minimum rates of properties in various cities of the country and passed a law that allowed the FBR to evaluate the market price of properties being sold across the country.