Traders across the country would strike over new taxes and exorbitant bills on Wednesday (tomorrow) “at all costs”, traders body head has said.

“The government is spreading false propaganda through certain elements,” Lahore Traders Association President Mujahid Maqsood Butt said in a video statement on Tuesday.

The statement comes as traders were scheduled to meet the Federal Board of Revenue chairman today to discuss the SRO.

He clarified that the government has not accepted their demands, saying that reports related to approval were rumours.

“There will be a complete shutter-down strike tomorrow, traders should not pay attention to the rumours,” Butt said and added that the “anti-trader people” were spreading rumours about the strike.

“We don’t have the desire for a strike,” he said and demanded the prime minister announce the cancellation of the Tajir Dost Scheme.

According to the Lahore traders body president, the scheme was a “trader-hostile scheme.” He added that the traders would unite to make Wednesday’s strike “successful.”

On Monday, the Tajir Dost Scheme chief coordinator said that the FBR has decided to amend an SRO about the Tajir Dost Scheme.

“The FBR will issue an amended SRO 1064 about the scheme keeping in view demands and reservations of the traders to facilitate them,” Naeem Mir said at a press conference in Multan on Monday.

“A new procedure for revising the evaluation table is being devised,” Mir said and added that a committee would be formed at the commissioner level, in which local representatives of traders would also be notified.

“There is no justification left for a strike against the scheme. Peaceful protest is everyone’s constitutional and legal right, but there should be a reason for it,” he had said.