PESHAWAR - The Peshawar Qaumi Jirga has demanded of the Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa government to immediately lift lockdown from Peshawar and compensate for the losses of traders due to the ongoing lockdown.
The jirga also asked the government to exempt traders from all kinds of taxes and eliminate unscheduled electricity loadshedding in Peshawar.
An important meeting of the jirga was held at the residence of PML(N) leader and Jirga Spokesperson Arbab Khizer Hayat and chaired by the former Provincial Minister JUI-F and Jirga President Maulana Amanullah Haqqani.
Chairman Khalid Ayub, ANP ex-MPA, and Jirga’s patron-in-chief Alamgir Khalil, JI’s former minister and Jirga general secretary Kashif Azam Khan, PPP’s former minister and Jirga’s vice president Ziaullah Afridi, QWP, Peshawar chairman and Jirga’s vice president Malik Nadeem, Peshawar Anjuman Tajran leaders Haji Mohammad Afzal, Habibullah Zahid, Mujeeb Ur Rehman, Mir Elahi, and Haji Mohammad Nawaz attended the meeting.
The meeting warned the government that the residents of Peshawar will not pay taxes and utility bills if their demands were not met.
The meeting asked the government to immediately end the lockdown and allow trade and business activities with instructions to observe social distancing.
It observed that traders cannot afford to keep their business shut any longer as many of them are facing serious economic problems and cannot pay even their shops monthly rent.
It added that labourers working at the factories and shops are also finding it hard to earn a living for their families.
The meeting asked the government to exempt the people of Peshawar from paying their utility bills for at least three months. It threatened that the masses would resort to civil disobedience if the demands are not met.
It further asked the government to exempt traders from payment of all kinds of taxes as they cannot afford the same for being in a war-like situation due to the coronavirus pandemic.