FPCCI warns of shutdown over business harassment

LAHORE: The Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI), the country’s top business body, has strongly opposed the recently introduced Section 37AA, which authorises the arrest of business owners under tax laws.

Addressing a press conference at the FPCCI office in Lahore, President Atif Ikram Sheikh, UBG Patron-in-Chief SM Tanveer, Vice Presidents Zaki Ijaz and Tariq Jadoon, along with other senior business leaders, condemned what they described as growing harassment of the business community.

“We are prepared to shut down our factories and hand over the keys to the government,” said Sheikh. “We are willing to cooperate, but not under threats and fear.”The FPCCI called for urgent economic relief measures, including reducing electricity tariffs to 9 cents per unit, reversing the 18 per cent sales tax on solar systems, restoring the final tax regime (FTR), reinstating the Export Facilitation Scheme (EFS) in its original form, and cutting interest rates in light of falling inflation.

The federation has given the government a seven-day deadline to act. An eight-member committee, led by President Sheikh and comprising senior figures such as Zubair Tufail, Mian Zahid Hussain, and representatives from Sialkot, Faisalabad and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, has been formed to engage in negotiations.The FPCCI also plans to raise the matter directly with the prime minister.