Traders in Karachi have refused to pull down shutters by 8 pm amid the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Pakistan.

Addressing a joint press conference, representatives of Sindh Tajir Ittehad (STI) and All-City Tajir Ittehad (ACTI) said that they will not close their businesses from Friday.

“Arrest us and put us behind bars,” they said while announcing the ‘jail bharo’ movement.

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“Closing businesses at 8 pm will lead to an economic meltdown for traders,” argued the traders. The traders said they planned to recover their losses caused by the lockdown imposed last year and that fresh restrictions will impact the businesses further.

They also lamented that the Sindh government had announced to waive-off taxes last year, but have instead imposed new taxes since then.