KP’s street vendors find new hope as important protection bill announced
PESHAWAR (APP): For years, 47-year-old fruit seller Bilal Khan has pushed his wooden cart through the congested streets of Qisakhwani bazaar Peshawar, constantly wary of an unexpected and sudden anti-encroachment drive by the district administration and police, demanding for unofficial payments, or the looming fear of losing his only source of income without warning.
But this week, Bilal says, he felt something rare relief after the Chief Minister KP’s announcement to introduce legislation to protect vendor business.
“I heard on the TV channels that the KP government wants to protect our business sparking widespread jubilation among our community,” he said, wiping dust from his cart in Qisakhwani Bazaar on Saturday. “If that really happens, it will change our lives.”
Bilal is one of more than 140,000 street vendors across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa who stand to benefit from a groundbreaking piece of proposed legislation ie Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Livelihood Protection Bill 2025.
The draft, completed and now heading to the provincial cabinet, has been widely praised by civil society groups, economists and business leaders for its promise to formally safeguard the people who power the province’s sprawling street economy and largely push the province economic wheel forward.
Calling it historic, PTI MNA Ashfaq Khan said the bill would make KP the first province in Pakistan to give permanent but enforceable legal rights to a large number of street vendors in KP.
He said that street vendors of fruits, vegetables, garments, makeup products and household items all will benefit from the landmark legislation.
For decades, vendors operating in markets, bazaars, roadsides, intersections and neighbourhood lanes have worked in a grey zone visible yet unrecognized, vital yet vulnerable.
“Despite contributing to an estimated Rs380 billion street economy, vendors have remained exposed to harassment, extortion, displacement and arbitrary confiscation of their carts or goods,” said senior economist Sumbul Riaz while talking to APP.
Instead to spend time with families, she said their arrest on name of encroachment land them in police lockups and jails.
Ashfaq Khan MNA said the new law seeks to change that no official, authority or individual will be allowed to unlawfully seize vending spaces or displace vendors.
He said it emphasizing that any act of intimidation, coercion or illegal payments demanded from vendors whether by police, government staff or private persons would become a serious criminal offense.
Among the bill’s most significant features is the introduction of Tehsil Vending Committees (TVC), where vendor representatives will sit alongside government officials in decisions about vending zones, registrations and dispute resolution.
For people like Malaika Bibi, who sells homemade snacks near Karkhano Market, this representation is a turning point for women venders.
“We never had a say in economic or policy decisions,” she said. “Most of the time we didn’t even know why we were being asked to move. If we can speak in these committees, maybe our side will finally be heard.”
Another key focus of the proposed key legislation is due process. Under the proposed law, no anti-encroachment action can be taken against a registered vendor without prior notice, evidence-based reasoning and adherence to legal procedures.
For long-time vendors, the unpredictability of enforcement has been one of the most damaging aspects of their work and accumulation of money.
“We were always scared. One wrong day and you lose everything,” said 60-year-old vendor Fayyaz Ali, who sells winter waistcoat at Jehangirura market opposite Qisakhwani bazaar. “If the law protects us, it will give us dignity and our business will shine.”
He hoped that it is a step toward restoring pride, self-worth and economic equality for people who have been invisible in policymaking for far too long in KP.
Beyond legal protection, the bill charts a path for vendors to become part of the formal economy. It promises access to microfinance, credit, insurance and emergency support, enabling thousands of small-scale workers to stabilize and grow their enterprises.
Civil society organizations and legal community l have welcomed the intiative, calling it a long overdue recognition of one of KP’s most hardworking and marginalized communities.
“The proposed bill will protect legal rights of street vendors,” said Noman Bukhari advocate while talking to APP.
As the bill moves to the provincial assembly, he hopes continue to rise among street vendors who have lived for decades on the margins of the city’s bustling life.
“If the government protects us,” Bilal said, looking at his fruit cart with a cautious smile, “my children might have a better future than mine.”
For thousands like him, the proposed legislation is more than a policy but it is a promise that the wheels of their carts may finally turn on steadier ground in Peshawar.
