KP launches first Human Rights Policy

PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government in the first Human Rights Policy has recommended making human rights training part of the police curriculum.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Minister for Law, Parliamentary Affairs and Human Rights, Imtiaz Shahid Qureshi, launched the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Human Rights Policy 2018 at a hotel here on Thursday.

The policy has been prepared by the KP Law, Parliamentary Affairs and Human Rights Department and KP Human Rights Directorate. The technical assistance was extended by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC).

In his speech, the minister for law and human rights said major international treaties, which Pakistan is a signatory and has successfully ratified, are critical to the formulation of this policy. However, he said, both the nine national and 16 provincial laws were also adopted, which are critical to the formulation of this policy. He said that it was the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf-led KP government that adopted the first ever human rights policy in the province and country as well.

The policy covered different areas including civil and political rights, women, children, transgender persons, minorities, senior citizens, people with disabilities and human rights defenders.

Enhancement of budgetary resources for police was recommended to increase their investigative capacity. “Human rights training shall be made part of the police training curriculum and these trainings shall focus on Pakistan’s international human rights commitments and will be aligned with international best practices,” it was recommended in the policy for police.

Of prosecution, the policy stated that the government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa shall adopt legislation, which shall address the issue of torture and custodial deaths that the Health Levy should be made a part of divisible pool in terms of Article 160(3)(v) of the Constitution read with Article 3(1)(h) of the 7th NFC Award (President’s Order No 5 of 2010).

It says that the federal governed under 2018-19 budget is going to ban acquisition of immovable property and vehicles by persons who are non-filers of income tax returns which will adversely affect the provincial receipts on account of Stamp Duty, CVT, Motor Vehicle Tax, etc.

The KP Finance Department said it will encourage people to transact such deals against Powers of Attorney defeating the intent and purposes of federal government’s ban and, resultantly, cause loss of provincial receipts.

The document also sought abolition of the ban on acquisition of immovable property and vehicles because the restriction is already placed under the Income Tax Ordinance, 2001, by prescribing a higher rate of withholding tax for non-filers.

About the Sales Tax, it said that 17 percent standard rate of Sales Tax is too high, thus, encouraging evasion and under- declaration. Moreover, higher rate of indirect taxes (Sales Tax) causes disequilibrium in the desired ratio of direct taxes to indirect taxes. It revealed that despite the 17 percent statutory rate, the effective incidence of Sales Tax remains only at 5-6 percent.

It further says that the 2018-19 budget does not make any attempt at reducing the statutory rate of Sales Tax which should be brought down to 15 percent in the next financial year with gradual reduction of one percent every year thus bringing it to 10 percent in the year 2023-24.

The province has also asked the federal government to withdraw exemption of stationery items, arguing that the zero-rating on stationery items was withdrawn in the budget 2016-17 on the ground that it was widely abused by unscrupulous persons. It noted that the restoration of zero-rating on stationery item, as put down in the next budget book, implies restoration of frauds and high refunds. Therefore, it suggested that the facility should be done away with.

The rate of income tax on “individuals” has been drastically reduced and the rate of income tax on association of persons and corporate sector remained high. Moreover, the Super Tax imposed on large association of persons and corporate sector continues which tends to encourage fragmentation of the businesses and investments and hamper government’s efforts to encourage documentation of economy and regularization of business sector.

It, therefore, suggested that the Super Tax should be abolished forthwith and the rate of income tax on association of persons and corporate sectors should be reduced instead of gradual reduction of income tax and the Super Tax over a period of five years as proposed in the federal budget 2018-19.