JI wants Malakand tax-free zone till 2035

TIMERGARA: Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) on Tuesday demanded the federal government to maintain the status of the Malakand division as a tax-free zone till 2035 as unemployment had increased manifold besides price hike and decrease in remittances from the Gulf countries due to uncertain situation.

Speaking at opening ceremony of a shoe store at Timergara, JI chief Sirajul Haq said the “incompetent” government had mortgaged the country with the International Monetary Fund , which he called a new shape of “East India Company” for Pakistan.

Sirajul Haq said the economy of a country was directly linked to the political and geographical independence of that country.

He said that if voted to power, the JI had already formed a forum consisting of a total of 1,200 PhD scholars of IT, agriculture, trade, industries, education, water management and other fields to chalk out comprehensive planning for the next 30 years to be followed by all governments in the centre and federating units as a national vision for the country.

“It is all because of the failed policies and mismanagement of the PTI government that today Pakistan’s passport ranks 4th amongst the weakest passports of the world,” Siraj said, adding one bag of fertiliser was being sold for Rs9,800 in the open market, which would directly affect the production of wheat during the next year.