PTI, ANP trade barbs in K-P Assembly

The Kyber Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Assembly on Monday echoed with criticism and counter-criticism by the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf and its rival Awami National Party. Parliamentary Leader of Awami National Party (ANP) Sardar Hussain Babak lashed out at PTI for acting against democratic norms and condemned the attitude of treasury benches, saying the party "buried ethical politics".

Babak said the price hike, economic crisis and other issues had made life miserable for everyone "while the treasury benches were reluctant to talk about issues including a ban on trade between Pakistan and Afghanistan". He alleged that PTI Ministers were regularly paying "ransom" to the Taliban whenever they demanded, adding that the PTI's provincial government under its leader had restored Tehreek Nifaz Sharia Muhammadi while also promoting "Talibanisation" in the province.

Maulana Lutf ur Rehman of JUI-F said that PTI was silent when all the political parties were demanding fair and transparent elections and now blaming others. He said that PTI wanted a "politically destabilised" Pakistan

Bill slashing tax on naswar

Meanwhile, the treasury also sought to withdraw its earlier decision to increase taxes on naswar (powdered tobacco snuff) and tobacco. In the KP Finance (Amendment) Bill 2022 in the House tabled by Finance Minister Taimur Saleem Jhagra, the provincial government sought to trim the tax from Rs5 down to Rs2.5. Similarly, It also proposed to slash the duty rate on tobacco by Rs6.

It should be noted that the K-P government had earlier increased the tobacco tax up to Rs12 per kg and taxed naswar at Rs5 per kg in its 2022-23 budget. Minister for Labour and Culture Shaukat Yousafzai said that people wrongly believed that the government was making money out of these things, adding that the purpose of increasing taxes on naswar was to discourage its addiction.

However, he noted that it was not a heavy or serious drug that caused problems. He stressed that the people wanted the rates of naswar to be reduced "The government was not getting much income from the tax imposed on it either," he added.

Promotion of trade

Earlier, the House passed three bills and tabled one including the ‘Commerce and Trade Statistic Bill, 2022’ to provide a collection of statistics relating to commercial and trade activities for the promotion of trade in the province. Mr Jhagra said that the collection and use of statistics on trade and commerce are of immense importance in strategising commercial activities.

He added that the statistics on commercial and trade activities were very helpful and could be used in planning effective trade, commerce and investment policy for achieving a boost in economic activities.

The minister further said that at present there was no regulatory regime for the collection of trade and commerce statistics, resultantly no accurate and authenticated data was available with the government regarding the number of different items produced, sold, exported and imported or about the quantifiable numbers of trade activity or investment that can be used for planning of effective trade policies.

The House also passed the KP Medical Officers of Health Department (Regularization of Services) Bill, 2022, the KP Lissaail-e-Wal Mahroom Foundation (Amendment) Bill, 2022 and tabled the KP Finance (Amendment) Bill 2022 in the House.