FBR raids irk traders, industrialists.

GUJRAT -- The local trade and industry have joined hands and lodged a strong protest against the raids by the Gujrat region of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) on some industrial units and traders.

The local business fraternity have also threatened to stage street protests as well as observe strike if 'harsh' policy of the tax watchdog was not amended.

A joint protest meeting of the representatives of the electric fan, pottery, furniture and other manufacturing sectors as well as traders of the city was held at the Gujrat Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GtCCI) on Saturday with acting president Mirza Usman Ashraf and vice president Khurram Altaf Bhatti in the chair.

Scores of businessmen attended the meeting where they expressed their concerns over the policy of raiding the factories and shops by FBR teams in recent weeks.

The participants were told that an FBR team consisting of at least 30 to 40 personnel had raided National Furnishers, a leading brand in the furniture market, on Thursday.

The team also confiscated the computers, manual record books and other data from the offices of the company.

It merits mentioning that earlier around four years ago the FBR team had to face a stiff resistance during such a raid at another furniture company when the staff had snatched the confiscated record and computers from the taxmen and put that material on fire.

The business community leaders while speaking to the protest meeting also strongly condemned the...