LAHORE: A faction of the All Pakistan Anjuman-i-Tajiran (Apat) said on Monday it would start a series of countrywide protests against withholding tax on banking transactions from Aug 18.

Goods transporters followed suit, saying they would hold protests outside press clubs across the country on Aug 17 and organise a rally from Babu Sabu Interchange to the Punjab Assembly on Aug 22.

Talking to reporters at a hotel, Apat Chairman Khawaja Shafique said trad-ers would wear black armbands, hold sitins and rallies and besiege 16 regional tax offices on Aug 18 and gather in front oftheheadquartersoftheFederalBoard of Revenue in Islamabad on Aug 21.

Mr Shafique, who earlier held a meeting with representatives and office-bearers of Apat and allied traders` bodies to chalk out the next strategy, said traders had been requested to boycott banking transactions across the country on Aug 25.

He said if the government did not withdraw the tax, `we will give another strike call for Aug 25`.

The meeting of traders from all over the country was attended by centraland provincial office-bearers of Apat, Qaumi Tajir Ittehad and Karachi Sindh Ittehad.

However, the Balochistan chapter of Apat kept itself away from the meeting.

A previous such meeting on July 24 had led to the Aug 1 strike.

Apat`s Khalid Pervez group and Ashraf Bhatti group had disassociated themselves from the Aug 1 strike and observed a shutter-down on Aug 5, showing division among traders.

Khawaja Shafique said he took responsibility for division among traders and urged the two factions to join hands with his group in the `fight for acommon cause` He said a committee headed by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa traders` leader Haji Abdul had been constituted which would contact Khalid Pervez and Abdur Razzaque Baber to chalk out a joint strategy.

Mr Shafique said the government should collect tax after consulting stakeholders. Traders could not afford to pay a direct tax, he added.

He said the government`s statement that the withholding tax was applied only to non-filers was untrue because it was being deducted on cash withdrawal by filers also.

Traders would not hold talks withthe government until removal of the tax, he declared.

`Traders reject the IMF`s conditions and appeal to the prime minister to remove the finance minister and the FBR chairman immediately. We are ready topay taxes andhelp the government broaden the tax base, but it must listen to our reservations,` he said.

Apat President Ajmal Baloch challenged Finance Minister Ishaq Dar to name a single country where withholding tax was deducted on banking transactions.

He alleged that FBR officials had removed the data of two million taxpayers after receiving bribes.Apat General Secretary Naeem Mir suggested that the government should suspend the deduction of withholding tax for four months if it wanted to hold talks with traders.

He said the FBR had yet to provide a formula to traders for collecting sales tax and turnover tax and simplifying the tax form.

The general secretary of the All Pakistan Transport Owners Federation, Waseem Khokhar, said they had decided to hold protests outside press clubs all over the country.

He said transports would hold a rally outside the Punjab Assembly if the tax was not withdrawn.