Govt couldn’t collect taxes despite three mini-budgets: Fazl

MIRANSHAH: Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) head Maulana Fazlur Rehman said on Sunday that the government was not able to collect targeted tax revenues and they brought three mini-budgets in a year time.

“The current government has taken Rs15,000 billion loans, how can they repay such debts if they even cannot collect tax revenue,” he said while addressing a gathering held in connection with the “Khatam-e-Nabuwwat Million March” here.

The JUI-F chief said the tribal districts were operating in a constitutional and legal vacuum after the merger of the erstwhile Fata with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. “There is no law in the tribal districts after the abolition of the Frontier Crimes Regulation,” he remarked.

The Maulana said that the tribespeople had rendered matchless sacrifices for the restoration of peace in the country. “The tribespeople have been going through difficult times for the last 13 years,” he added.

The JUI-F chief said the police could not be deployed in the merged districts while the fate of the Levies and Khassadars also hanged in the balance. “We had opposed the merger, but the process was carried out to please the US,” he added.

Fazlur Rehman said his party had opposed the National Action Plan as he believed it was introduced to appease India. He said India was censured for committing atrocities in the Indian Held Kashmir (IHK), but no voice was raised when the tribespeople faced injustice and tribulations. He said the US was compelled to hold talks with the Afghan Taliban as it was facing defeat. He claimed that China was also displeased with Pakistan over its certain policies and the fate of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor project was bleak.

The Maulana said the captured Indian pilot was returned under pressure from the US. He said that a fake government had been imposed on the country which had miserably failed to deliver on the election pledges.

He said that the cost of the Bus Rapid Transit project in Peshawar had escalated to over Rs100 billion and despite spending huge amount on the project roads in Peshawar turned into puddles after rain.

“The PTI government has taken record loans in short span of time,” the JUI-F chief said, adding, the people would join the million march to oust the selected and corrupt government.