Rawalpindi traders threaten strike over PFA market data drive

RAWALPINDI: Traders' bodies across Rawalpindi Division have warned of a complete shutter-down strike after Punjab Food Authority teams began visiting wholesale and retail markets to collect commercial data from businesses.

The exercise comes after the federal and Punjab governments introduced a new tax regime for the 2026-27 financial year, with tax collections scheduled to start in the first week of August. Traders say the forms being distributed seek information on stock levels, daily sales, shop rents, number of employees, utility bills and licensing records.

The move has triggered resistance from the Kiryana Merchant Association, central traders' organisations and wholesale dealers, which have rejected the survey and said shopkeepers would not share the requested details. They have also threatened protests across Rawalpindi Division and elsewhere in Punjab if businesses are pressed to comply.

Kiryana Merchant Association Patron-in-Chief Saleem Parvez Butt, President Arif Gujjar and Secretary Sheikh Rizwan Shaukat said traders would not accept the fixed tax scheme "under any circumstances", calling it an added burden for small and large businesses alike.

The office-bearers said commercial activity had already suffered and urged the government not to introduce further measures that could hurt traders. They also alleged that the information collected through the survey would later be used for the issuance of new business licences to shopkeepers.

The association's representatives said the government should facilitate businesses instead of imposing additional regulatory demands, adding that traders were already contributing to the national exchequer through taxation. They said a province-wide shutter-down strike remained one of the options under consideration if the dispute escalated.