The All Parties Conference (APC) has announced its support for traders’ sit-in outside the Central Police Office (CPO) on March 20 (Tuesday) against law-enforcement agencies (LEAs) over allegedly failing to protect traders from extortionists.
This was announced by APC central leader Mehboob Azam during a meeting with representatives of the All Pakistan Organisation of Small Traders & Cottage Industries (APOST&CI) at a local hotel on Thursday.
According to reports, the traders have announced a protest march from the Jama Cloth Market to Merewether Tower on Tuesday to stage a sit-in outside the CPO against extortionists, parchis (extortion slips), kidnappings and killings of traders, and failure of the LEAs in providing protection to them.
Azam said that the APC would back the APOST&CI’s protest march and sit-in under the banner of ‘Save Economy and Traders’. He said that the traders are being looted and kidnapped by extortionist for long.
He also said that the chief justice of Pakistan took suo motu action against Waheeda Shah’s slapping, but he is not taking action against the looting and killing of Karachi’s traders.
Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Karachi Ameer Muhammad Hussain Mahenti said that the government is supporting criminals and this is the only reason that the LEAs have failed to curb the menace of extortion.
He blamed the government for giving a free hand to extortionists and letting them continue depriving traders of their valuables. He said that the LEAs seem helpless in front of extortionists due to political support.
He assured the traders of JI’s cooperation and also assured them that his party would take part in every movement of the traders.
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leader Mir Nawaz said that the government is not paying any attention to traders’ issues.
He said that the government is spending precious revenue of traders in assemblies and on ministers and their advisers, but it has failed to address the problems of the traders.
He also said that the government stopped fresh appointments in the judiciary and police department claiming shortage of funds, but it was to give a free hand to these criminals.
APOST&CI President Mehmood Hamid told the participants of the meeting that the traders were being deprived of Rs 12.5 million a day.
He said that more than 400 traders were kidnapped and 15 others were killed in the past 30 days for not paying extortion money.
He also said that the government has failed to protect the traders. He demanded the government to grant every income tax paying trader with a licence to bear arms so they could protect themselves from criminals.
He warned that if the government failed to protect the traders from extortionists, then they would stop paying income tax.
On the other hand, the traders told Sindh Inspector General of Police (IGP) Mushtaq Shah in another meeting that the LEAs have failed to curb kidnappings and killings of traders due to political clout.
However, the IGP rejected the claim of traders and said that the LEAs do not need instructions from political parties for taking action against criminals.
In the meeting with traders’ associations, the IGP assured that the LEAs would take care of extortionists within 15 days. He also assured them of deploying 800 newly-trained personnel across the markets.
