Traders begin country-wide strike against tax policies.

ISLAMABAD/LAHORE/KARACHI -- A two-day strike by the business community against the condition of national identity card (CNIC) and government's tax policies started on Tuesday.

Due to the deadlock between the All Pakistan Traders Association (APTA) and Federal Bureau of Revenue (FBR), traders across the country are observing a shutter-down strike on Tuesday and Wednesday.

On Sunday, APTA President Muhammad Ajmal Baloch had announced that the strict conditions of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have badly affected the trading activities, against which the business community will protest strongly.

Traders have warned expanding the protest if the conditions, including presenting a CNIC copy for buying and selling goods up to Rs50,000 is not withdrawn.

All traders of Karachi under various associations have been asked to keep shutters down on both days to protest against additional duties and taxes on imports, sales tax registration, turnover tax, fixed tax etc.

Major traders in Faisalabad have also called for strike in protest against the Federal Bureau of Revenue (FBR).

Traders' associations in Karachi, Lahore, Quetta and other parts of the country in support of the strike call given by All-Pakistan Anjuman-i-Tajiran (APAT) and the Pakistan Traders Alliance (PTA) have also planned for marching towards Islamabad in protest.

Besides, all markets in Lahore, Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Quetta, Gujranwala, Gujrat, Hafizabad, Multan, Rahim Yar Khan, Peshawar, Swabi and many other urban cities are observing shutdown strike in protest against the government.

In Karachi, several markets and bazaars...