Tax exemption for ex-Fata /Pata
DLP Report
PESHAWAR
President, Hayatabad Industrial Association, Bakhtiar Afridi and former president Sarhad Chamber of Commerce and Industries (SCCI), Muhammad Ishaq have demanded of the federal government, including the finance minister, FBR and FIA, to take strict action against those who fill their personal coffers by taking relief of billions of rupees in the name of industries and people of the erstwhile FATA/PATA.
In a joint statement issued here on Friday, they said that due to such elements, the public exchequer and all tribal people have suffered irreparable financial loss, while 70% of the industries in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have also been closed due to these few industrialists.
They said that due to two or four so-called industrialists, the tribal districts of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and their people have been suffering from hardships and destruction for the last several years, and at the same time loss to the tone of billions of rupees has also been inflicted to the public exchequer each year.
They alleged some officials of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) also remain in glove with such so-called businessmen to do this dirty business by receiving crores of rupees of commission and bribe.
They said that these people have stolen billions of rupees in the face of relief from the government for the last several years by showing their factories in the former Fata/Pata, while the raw materials and the goods they produce are sold in the settled areas and the people of the tribal areas are left on hanger.
He said that these people also sell raw materials in other settled areas of the country and all their business is run in these areas, while they take relief from the governments in the name of tribes, but the fact is that they have not given relief of even a single rupee to the tribesmen and to people of Malakand Division.
They further demanded of the prime minister, federal finance minister and the FBR chairman including the FIA officials to block the path of such black sheep and take strict action by registering cases against them and also hold accountable the government officials who facilitate them so that the loss to the national exchequer could be compensated and the people could be given their right.
Industrialists said that this illegal relief has not only caused a lot of damage to the industries of the country and especially Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, rather more than 70 percent of industrial units have been closed down and unemployment has grown up.
