‘RGST will be implemented at all costs’

LAHORE – Punjab Governor Salmaan Taseer said that the political parties were trying to gain political mileage on the issue of Reformed General Sales Tax (RGST) but it will definitely be implemented at any cost.
He was addressing as the chief guest during the 9th convocation of the University of Central Punjab (UCP) at Expo Centre Lahore. Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Central Information Secretary and member National Assembly Fauzia Wahab was the guest of honour.
Salmaan congratulated the graduates and their parents and requested the students not to forget millions of people who do not get the opportunity to get into a university. He said that Pakistan’s tax to GDP ratio was quite ‘shameful’ as compared with other countries; he gave the example of Srilanka where the same ratio was 17 percent. He said the poor will benefit from RGST, as 70 percent of the expenditure by the poor did not come under the umbrella of RGST.
He appreciated the students’ achievements, especially the females. He said females’ participation and role in the society through education was pivotal in a country’s progress. He congratulated Faiza Attique who won the Roll of Honour for her outstanding achievement with 4 Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) in the engineering programme. Fauzia Wahab laid stress on the importance of the tax system and criticized the class which tended to create ‘furore’ when asked to pay taxes.
Addressing the media, she negated any chance of government to fall. She questioned that how a country could be sovereign without having a strong taxation system. Answering a question she said that the government was trying to cut their expenditures and was in the process of cutting down ten ministries.
She elaborated that the government was not blackmailed by their allies and PPP was committed towards the policy of reconciliation. She emphasized the importance of a positive approach and said that India always talked about their 30 million middle class but never attended to the miseries of the other 70 million. She said that there was a need to reform the taxation system like other countries.
She also discussed the importance of universities and appreciated the role of UCP in the field of education. Earlier UCP Board of Governors Chairman Mian Amer Mehmood and UCP Pro-Rector Prof Dr Tahir Hijazi received the governor and other guests. There was an impressive turnout of graduates who received their degrees.
The convocation started with the playing of the national anthem. UCP Pro-Rector Prof Dr Tahir Hijazi thanked the guests and the audience for their presence at the convocation. He said education was the key factor that ensured the progress of a country. He enumerated the university’s achievements over the years and congratulated all graduates and their parents.
Degrees in various disciplines were conferred on the qualifying candidates as they were presented to the chief guest by their respective deans. Twenty one outstanding graduates were awarded medals along with their degrees. As many as 264 degrees were conferred in the convocation including MBA, BBA Honors, Engineering, MS Computer Science and MS Telecommunication Science Programmes. A huge laughter was witnessed when Fauzia Wahab called Mian Amir Mehmood, “Amir Mughal”.
Ghulam dastagir, Haroon Iftekhar, Muhammad Farhan, Fahad Tahir, Tauseef Khan, Hira Khan, Zarmeena Malik and Faiza Attique stood first among their respective programmes.