LAHORE: The divide within All Pakistan Anjuman Tajiran over 0.3 per cent advance withholding tax on banking transactions further deepened on Tuesday with a faction calling its own `country-wide’ convention on July 28 to counter the similar gathering of traders on July 24.

Khaled Pervez, president of his faction of APAT, turned at the Lahore Press Club along with representatives of different markets and bazaars of the provincial capital to show their strength against the tax.

Pervez told reporters traders would observe a country-wide strike against the 0.3pc tax on Aug 5 if the government did not withdraw it. He said traders, who held meetings with the finance minister, were not their true representatives and were rather ‘government agents.’

He claimed that traders from across the country would participate in the convention to be held on July 28 to chalk out some strategy to counter the imposition of tax in a befitting manner.