The city traders on Wednesday threatened to launch a jail bharo (filling the jails) movement if their demand to resume businesses in the metropolis during COVID-19 lockdown is not accepted.
“If our demands are not accepted, we will be launching a jail bharo (fill the jails) movement,” said SindhTajirIttehad leader Jameel Paracha during a joint presser of different trade organizations.He said that the traders would reopen their shops from the first day of the Ramazan.
“We will not meet any negotiating team or minister of the provincial government,” he said.Electronic Dealers Association leader Rizwan Irfan said that Sindh government was only trying to buy some time by trying to engage the traders in talks. “They have no sympathy towards the miserable condition traders and labourers are going through at this time,” he said.Another trade leader Ilyas Memon said that both the federal and provincial governments want to cripple the businesses. “Thousands of labourers have become unemployed due to closure ofshops,” he said adding that they were in no position to pay their utility bills and taxes. Meanwhile, President All City Tajir Ittehad President Hammad Poonawala was taken into custody by local police on Wednesday over defying coronavirus lockdown restrictions. The police took President Poonawala into custody along with four other traders.The traders had forcibly opened shops disregarding government orders, the police therefore took action and ‘Iron Market’ area of the metropolis was completely shut down.
All City TajirIttehad members have claimed that the police roughed them up and forced them to shut down shops.Karachi traders summoned an emergency meeting earlier in the day after their deadline to the Sindh government to resume businesses in the metropolis expired on Tuesday.]
The Sindh government had asked the traders to wait till Tuesday before they finalise the SOPs needed to resume businesses. Moreover, President Sindh TajirIttehad Jameel Paracha has said that they had to stop paying power dues and expel their employees to overcome the financial constraints faced due to coronavirus lockdown.Paracha said that the provincial ministers Saeed Ghani and Nasir Hussain Shah were not responding to their phone calls.
