Malakand resents govt’s tax move

Traders said government’s proposed move to extend the tax net was unjustified

A shutter-down strike was observed in the Malakand division on Tuesday against the government’s plan to bring the division into the tax net.

The Malakand division trade union president, Abdur Rahim Khan, had given the strike call over the weekend after a detailed meeting with the all-district trade union leadership at Swat Press Club.

The traders said the government’s proposed move to extend the tax net was unjustified and against the agreement the then government had inked with the state of Swat in 1969.

Malakand division, the divisional headquarters, Swat, Shangla, Chitral, Malakand, Bajaur, Dir Lower, Dir Upper and Buner traders observed the strike and closed their businesses with the exception of medicine stores and eateries.

Rahim said the government had planned to “reward” the Malakand division residents with tax imposition for the sacrifices they rendered over the past decade and the natural disasters that continuously impacted people’s lives.

He said they would not allow anyone to take away their legal rights as the government had reverted the special status of provincially administrated tribal area PATA and was trying to impose the taxes, which he said would be “an economic murder” of the already devastated people of the division.

He said the economic activity in the division was extremely low, claiming: “Show us a single factory […] where people work and make money.”

(more input from our correspondent)

Published in The Express Tribune May 15^th, 2024.