Daily Times

Senior trade leader and former senior vice president of Islamabad Chambers of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) Malik Sohail Hussain has said that the Islamabad Rent Control Act heavily tilted towards the property owners who are exploiting trading community.

Talking to members of the business community who called on him here on Sunday, Malik Sohail Hussain warned that an indefinite strike has been planned if issues of the business community were not resolved by the authorities.

Those who called on the business leader included former president of ICCI Ijaz Abbasi, Khalid Chaudhry, Ajmal Baloch, Yusuf Rajput, Muhammad Hussain, Adil Anis, Ch Irfan and Tahir Abbasi.

Speaking on the occasion, the business leaders said that the Rent Control Act is not balanced which continue to help property owners exploit the traders.

Thousands of traders are forced to live in fear and on the mercy of greedy property owners who put moral values on the backburner for petty gains, they added.

The business leaders said that traders in the federal capital have long been demanding a proper tenancy law which is being ignored.

The former government of PML-N and PPP had promised to resolve the issue but the problem was never addressed, they added.

Malik Sohail said that the traders were feeling insecure due to the absence of a law of tenancy and whenever a business start paying dividends the materialistic owners of shops starts demanding increased rent.

The business community is frequently blackmailed which is highly unjustified and inhuman, they said, adding that passage of amended rent control bill was avoided providing an opportunity to the owners of the property to blackmail businessmen.

The traders warned that if the forced eviction of traders was not stopped immediately the traders would have no option but to launch a protest campaign.

Traders should be allowed to get relief from the superior courts if their plea is overturned by the lower courts, they demanded.

They asked the Prime Minister to take note of the situation and said that Chief Justice has emerged as a ray of hope for the masses. The CJP should form a commission to investigate the matter and ensure justice, they demanded.

Published in Daily Times, July 16^th 2018.