MULTAN, March 14th: Traders of Multan have outrightly rejected the Punjab government's lockdown schedule and said that they would not reduce the business hours nor close their shops on Saturday and Sunday . “But this time, we can’t afford more lockdowns in the guise of the Covid-19 a pandemic.” Addressing a crowded press conference at Multan Press Club on Sunday Khawaja Muhammad Suleman Siddiqui,Central Chairman, Khalid Mehmood Qureshi,Sheikh Javed Akhtar,Syed Jafar Shah,Sheikh Akram Hakim, Mirza Naeem Baig, Ch.Muhammad ilyas,Kashif Rafiq, Ch.Shahbaz, Tanvir Langah, Abid Khan, Nadeem Sheikh, Syed Khizar Shah, Ch.Asghar Ansari, Sheikh Shafiq, Kamran Bhutta,Ch.Abdul Hameed Jatt, Yaquon Rajput and others said traders had already suffered huge losses due to the closure of businesses and cannot afford another lockdown.They said traders had faced a huge financial crisis amid the lockdown.“If the government insisted on the lockdown of Saturday and Sunday, the traders will strongly resist it.”The traders rejected the government’s move and announced that they would not pull their shutters down come what may. They said that we have no political motive nor we want to launch civil disobedience movement against the Government instead we are endeavouring for the cause of already hard-pressed traders community.
“We cooperated with the government to cope with the pandemic when the first lockdown was announced but it would not be easy for the traders to go for a another lockdown on the eve of Sha'aban and Ramzan,” they said, urging the government to review its decision.
Khawaja Suleman Siddiqui said different unions were supporting the traders’ stance as the government was not cooperating with traders to resolve their problems.
“Our motive is to overcome unemployment and we should be allowed to continue our businesses till Eid,” he said. Khalid Mehmood Qureshi said that there was no justification for closure of all wedding halls, marriage gardens etc when a large number of people had got booked these hall for guests.The business community of Multan rejected the smart lockdown in the capital and closure of markets in Punjab and announced to resist it.they termed the decision of the Punjab government unjustified.
“If it is done, the business community will put up full resistance and the responsibility for the situation will be on Chief Minister Usman Buzdar,” said Syed Jafar Shah.The traders said the decision would lead to collapse of the local economy and badly affect small traders. The major lockdown will start from Monday (tomorrow) for two weeks in the seven cities after a gap of a year. During the first wave of the infection in March 2020, the government had imposed a complete lockdown across the province.
The Punjab government repeated the practice in seven cities, following a massive surge in the coronavirus cases, primarily due to the UK variant of the virus.While issuing a notification , the Punjab Primary and Secondary Healthcare Department said a major lockdown had been imposed in Lahore, Rawalpindi, Sargodha, Faisalabad, Multan, Gujranwala and Gujrat, restricting the movement of the people within these districts and outside them. There shall also be a complete ban on gatherings of all kinds for social, religious or other purposes at any place, public or private, in these seven cities. All types of marriage and banquet halls, community centres and marquees will remain closed in these cities. There shall be a complete ban on all kinds of indoor gatherings while outdoor gatherings shall with upper limit of 50 people in the seven cities.
The government stated that there shall be a complete ban on indoor and outdoor dining in the seven cities while only takeaway and home delivery shall be allowed.
The upper limit for outdoor gatherings in the rest of province is 300 people in the rest of the province for the maximum duration of two hours.
“All kind of sports, cultural and other activities and events shall remain banned throughout the province,” reads the notification.
