Musharraf lashes shop strike

Shops were closed in the commercial capital Karachi

Pakistan's military ruler General Pervez Musharraf has sharply criticised the traders' strike, which has shut shops around the country.

They have no right to go on strike and close their shops

General Musharraf

In his first comments on the three-day strike, which is to end late on Sunday, he said the retailers had no right to strike.

Correspondents say the nationwide action - in protest at plans for a general sales tax - is the most organised challenge to the military's seven month rule.

But General Musharraf said he was not worried by the strike.

"I am not afraid of such things," he said at the inauguration of an oil refinery expansion in Rawalpindi.

He said his government would try to win the business community's compliance with its economic revival plans.

Tax burden

Porters had nothing to carry as the strike continued

The government says it must raise the tax as it needs to increase the tax base in Pakistan.

Currently, only 1.5 million of the country's 140 million people pay any tax at all.

The traders, though, say they should not have to bear the cost of collecting the sales tax.

The strike has been supported by the majority of traders in the cities.

Chemists' shops were exempted from the strike, so that people could get emergency medical supplies.

BBC Islamabad correspondent Owen Bennett-Jones says the sales tax has become a major test of the extent of the military's resolve to introduce unpopular long-term reforms.