TRADERS in Pakistan went on strike today, shutting down their businesses in all major cities and urban areas to protest at a rise in electricity costs and new taxes imposed on shop owners.

The government of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has steadily raised electricity prices since Pakistan last month struck a deal with the International Monetary Fund for a new $7 billion loan (£5 billion). 

The higher cost of living and price hikes have triggered widespread discontent and drawn protests.

Most of the public markets across Pakistan were closed on Wednesday, though pharmacies and grocers remained open. 

Kashif Chaudhry, a strike leader, said those were not closed so as not to inconvenience the general public.

Stores were closed in the Pakistani capital of Islamabad, the nearby garrison city of Rawalpindi, as well as in the city of Lahore, the country’s cultural capital, and the main economic hub Karachi.

The strike was called by Naeem-ur-Rehman who heads the religious Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan party and endorsed by most of the various traders’ unions and associations.

The shutdown aims to force the government to reverse the recent hikes in power bills and the controversial tax that followed the recent talks with the IMF.