ISLAMABAD: The Reformed General Sales Tax (GST) bill will invite a bloody revolution in the country if it is passed in its present form, Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan said on Friday.
Talking to reporters outside the Parliament House, Nisar said, “We cannot support the bill in present form as it will cause more poverty and inflation in the country. We will also oppose it in the National Assembly’s upcoming session.”
“We have not budged even an inch from our previous stance and are in contact with opposition parties and the government’s coalition partners to evolve a joint strategy to oppose the bill in the National Assembly,” he said.
To a question, he said the PML-N was not against documenting the economy but the government was documenting the economy to tax the poor with this bill. Speaking on the issue of disappearance of 12 men, allegedly picked up intelligence agencies from the Adiala Jail, Nisar said, “The disappearance is a reminiscent of Pervez Musharraf’s regime and the present government is also following the same path.
People are being picked up at night in violation of the civil rights, which is taking place under a democratic government.” Told that the Supreme Court had taken a notice of the issue, Nisar said, “We appreciate the Supreme Court, but parliament, too, has a responsibility and in this regard we have submitted a proposal to the National Assembly that a parliamentary commission be formed to look into the matter.”
He said he would raise the matter in the upcoming session of the Lower House as no one, including the intelligence agencies, was above the law. Asked that no single FIR had been registered in police stations of Punjab against officials of the agencies allegedly abducting people from the province, Nisar said he had no information in this regard and he would reply to the query after obtaining information from the provincial government.
He said it would improve Pakistan’s image if the government, the judiciary and parliament sent a message that no institution could violate laws of the state. About plot allotments, Nisar said the PML-N would introduce a bill in the upcoming session to set a criterion to regulate allotment of plots.
“The allotment of plots is a form of corruption. The government is giving plots to its blue-eyed people without following any criterion and we want to eliminate this practice,” Nisar said.
