Thousands of traders shut down their shops on Saturday, as they observed a strike against the soaring energy and petrol prices.
There were widespread market closures on Saturday in Lahore, Karachi and Peshawar, where abandoned bazaars were posted with placards decrying “the unreasonable increase in electricity bills and taxes”.
Everyone is participating because the situation has become unbearable now,” Township Traders Union President Ajmal Hashmi told AFP in Lahore. “Some relief must be given so people can put food on the table.”
On Friday, caretaker Prime Minister Anwaarul Haq Kakar said citizens would have to pay inflated bills as there is no “second option”.
“When you subsidise, you shift your fiscal obligations to the future. Rather than addressing the issue, you just delay it,” he told reporters in Islamabad.
The government raised petrol prices past the threshold of Rs300 per litre for the first time this week. That exchange rate against the dollar is the lowest in the nation’s 76-year history.
Meanwhile, fresh data showed year-on-year inflation in August stood at 27.4%, with petrol bills up 8% on July.
“The bills we have received this month exceed our earnings,” said Babar Mahmood, president of the Electronics Market Traders Union in Lahore. “There is a growing disconnect between the general public and those in positions of power.”
