Addressing a traders rally at BCG Chowk, Khawaja Muhammad Shafiq and Khalid Mehmood Qureshi said," we have no political motive nor we are launching this drive against any personality but we are endeavouring for the cause of our problems," They warned that the traders would not accept any change in the existing taxation system.
Trade leaders Muhammad Shafiq, Basharat Shaukat, Irshad Hussain Bhatti, Taj-din, Khalil Ahmed, Ehsan-ul-Haq and Akbar Shaheen, in Vehari, pointed that traders of Southern Punjab were paying more taxes than Faisalabad and other big cities and they pay utility bills well in time, regularly. In spite of that, 16 to 20 hours loadshedding was being observed in this region.
They said prolonged power outages had forced them to launch protest but if the Multan Electric Power Company (Mepco) failed to meet its commitment, they would be left with no option but to stage more protests. Trade leaders observed that the business community was under the impression that there was an acute shortage of electricity in the country and they were ready to co-operate with the government but unfortunately, unannounced power outages had pushed entire businesses as well as the industrial sector to the wall, and forced them to take it to the streets. They feared that thousands of industrial workers were facing the threat of unemployment in the wake of non-availability of electricity, but the government was playing the role of a 'silent spectator'.
They warned that the economic crisis would further deepen in coming days as the industry had failed to meet existing export orders, let alone new orders. Traders alleged that the bureaucracy was not interested in improving the situation and was pushing the industrialists to streets. They appealed to Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif to look into the matter, which was hitting the entire trading sector hard.