| The Peshawar Tajir Ittehad (PTI), a conglomerate of four trader organisations of the city and cantonment bazaars, has refused to accept the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) governmentâs demand that they shut down their business during prayer timings. The decision was taking at a meeting chaired by Sharafat Ali Mubarak, president of the Muttahida Tajiran, attended by Haji Halim Jan, president of the Action Committee Tajiran, Haji Afzal, president of the Anjuman-e-Tajiran, Shaukat Hamdard, president of the PTI cantonment, and other representatives of trader organisations on Tuesday night. Mr Mubarak told Daily Times that the economic condition of the province was already in shambles and the governmentâs decision to close down shops during prayers timings was unacceptable to traders. âWe are Muslims and offer prayers five times a day regularly but shutting down shops will be impossible for us,â he said. Mr Mubarak said that closing and opening shops would take at least 30 to 45 minutes and there was a short interval between various prayers, which could not be followed. He said the government should talk to traders before taking any such decisions so that it did not face embarrassment when it came to implementing them. |