NA panel recommends govt to abolish permit system in FATA: report

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ISLAMABAD: The government has been recommended to abolish the permit system in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) by the National Assembly Standing Committee on States and Frontier Regions (SAFRON), arguing that double taxation is not allowed in the constitution, reported a local media outlet on Thursday.

“Currently the bureaucrats want to become political agents because it has become a goose that lays golden eggs. If the permit system would be abolished no bureaucrat will show willingness to go to FATA and become a political agent,” said the Minister of State for SAFRON Ghalib Khan.
Upon inquiry by a sub-committee demanding the submission of records of expenditures by political agents, they were told that the records were burned in a suicide bomb attack, said Sahibzada Tariq Ullah of Jamaat-e-Islami.

People who paid taxes upon purchasing in urban areas had to re-pay upon entry to FATA and this double-taxation is unconstitutional, explained Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) Qaisar Jamal.
“On the other hand, the budget of political agents cannot be discussed. I suggest that public representatives be involved in the preparation of budgets for FATA,” he added.

The FATA Secretariat is also opposed to the permit system, that only 1.8 billion is collected through the permit system and the government should pay that amount if the system is to be abolished, said a representative.
Chairman of the committee  Mohammad Jamaluddin of JUI-F (Jamiat Ulema-e Islam) ruled that the permit system should be abolished.

The “Tribal Areas Rewaj Bill (2017)” would be presented to the Senate soon, the committee was informed. However, Sahibzada Tariq Ullah denied that there had been any discussions over “Rewaj” while formulating the recommendations of the committee.

The committee was also informed by the joint secretary of SAFRON that the ministry could not obtain evidence to prove the allegation by JUI-F’s Naeema Kishwar Khan that anti-Pakistan syllabus was being taught to Afghan refugee children.