Swat Jirga seeks tax exemption for Malakand Division

MINGORA: A jirga here on Saturday demanded the government to give 10-year tax relaxation to the Malakand Division.

The jirga also demanded the government to take steps for the restoration of peace in the entire Malakand Division. The jirga members urged the government to establish an industrial zone and check deforestation in Malakand.

Former minister Inayatullah Khan and leader of Jamaat-e-Islami had organized the jirga. The leaders from Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, Awami National Party, Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party and Pakistan People’s Party attended the jirga.

Traders and members of the lawyer community were also in attendance.

However, the legislators from the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf did not show up at the jirga despite being invited to it. “The government should exempt the entire Malakand Division from all kinds of taxes as the region was badly hit by militancy and floods in the recent past. The local people have rendered matchless sacrifices for the restoration of peace,” he said JI leader Inayatullah while speaking at the jirga.

He said that his party would also raise its voice in the Parliament for the rights of the people of the Malakand Division.

“We are producing surplus electricity, but we are facing prolonged loadshedding. The price-hike has made life miserable for the people,” said Abdul Rahim, President of the Swat Traders Federation.

He asked the government to announce a special relief package for the people of Swat and the rest of the Malakand Division. He asked the PTI provincial government to play its role in resolving the flour crisis. He suggested that the KP government should consider suspending power supply to Punjab if it did not lift the ban on the transportation of wheat. The jirga demanded that the Swat Expressway Phase-II should be built on the bank of the River Swat to save the orchards and agricultural fields.