Accusing Sindh of violating the constitution of Pakistan? Is this the same constitution that dear old Musharraf follows? Why can’t Sindh issue its own taxes, since the money is desperately needed? Islamabad has to suck up every resource now?
Sindh accused of violating Constitution
By Khaleeq Kiani
ISLAMABAD, Jan 16: The federal government has accused the Sindh government of violating the Constitution of Pakistan through unilateral imposition of a tax on imports and called for its immediate withdrawal.
Official sources told Dawn that the cess imposed by the Sindh government had also started hurting investment in the country because it gave an impression of inconsistent policies in total contrast to the government slogan of continuity of uniformal economic policies.
The imposition of infrastructure development, said these sources, was not only violating the constitution and undermining the investor confidence but it is also in contravention of the Trade Policy 2002-03.
All the international financial institutions (IFIs) and other donors have repeatedly been asking the military government over the last two years and after the restoration of democracy, to Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali’s government to ensure continuity of reforms and consistency in economic policies.
Most of these agencies have arranged different lending programmes for Pakistan running into billions of dollars on the sole condition of continuity of policies.
These sources said that the federal minister for industries and production, Liaquat Ali Khan Jatoi, has also written a letter to Sindh Chief Minister Ali Mohammad Mehar on the subject.
In the letter, a copy of which was obtained by Dawn, the minister wrote to the Sindh government that it (the federal government) had established Export Processing Zones in Pakistan on the basis of a commitment that all taxes would be exempted.
The letter further said that recently the Government of Sindh had introduced an infrastructure development cess of 0.5 per cent on all imports by amending the Section 9 of the Sindh Finance Act, 1994.
“This will not only start hurting investment in Karachi Export Processing Zone but will also detract much from the credibility of the federal and provincial governments to live up to their commitments,” the letter said.
“It may be pertinent to mention that credibility of government commitments is a much needed key to the promotion of investment in the country in general and Sindh province in particular. It will also be useful to weigh the advantages of enabled investment climate in Sindh against the cost of exemption of such levies,” the letter further said.
The minister also reminded the provincial chief minister that the federal cabinet had also directed recently the Sindh government through a Dec 21, 2002, notification to withdraw this tax on imports because the province cannot tax international trade under the Constitution."