ISLAMABAD: The business community has called upon the leadership of major political parties to take lead in declaring their income and assets by filing their income tax returns and wealth statements so that their actual income must be made public, which would encourage others to operate within the documented regime.
Politician-cum-businessman Jahangir Tareen has suggested to the leaders of political parties, gathered at the forum of Pakistan Business Council, that they should support that all income must be taxed in the larger interest of the country. At this forum, Jahangir pushed that all political parties should show their commitment in this connection. The political leaders can practically demonstrate their determination to assist the government in documentation drive by declaring their income, he said.
The lead must be taken by members of National Assembly, provincial assemblies and the senators. They all must declare their income and how much tax they are paying, Jahangir demanded of the representatives of political parties.
A leader of Pakistan People's Party, Sherry Rehman, countering the business community's demand, said that politicians from her party regularly entered their assets returns to the Election commission of Pakistan, and other institutions should also be taken in the orbit.
PML (Q) Senator Haroon Akhtar said that declaration of income tax return and wealth statements must be imposed through an act of parliament. Under existing rules, parliamentarians are liable to submit only assets details to election commission of Pakistan on annual basis. The existing patron is not a true reflection of their original possession. There should be mandatory for the political leaders to file their wealth statements and income tax returns, he said.
He said that Pakistan should move cautiously towards enhancing trade with India because there are certain areas where Pakistani businessmen are not so much competitive as their counterparts in India. The leaders of four political parties--Pakistan People's Party, MQM, Pakistan Muslim League (N) and Pakistan Muslim League (Q)--participated in the national dialogue to reach a consensus as to which direction the government should drive the economy of the country to gain fruitful results.
Apart from other key sectors of economy which came under discussion all leaders agreed to promote regional trade, but not at the cost of local industries. PML-N's Ahsan Iqbal suggested that trade between the two countries could be boosted reciprocally. Regional trade agreements including Asean and Saarc had own problems and failed in addressing the core issues hindered in regional trade volume. He said Pakistan allowed viewership of Indian TV channels in Pakistan, but India banned beaming of Pakistani TV channels there. Similarly, in telecommunication sector, one could do international roaming from India into Pakistan, but not from Pakistan.
Haroon said that Pakistan had been facing a deficit of $900 million in trade with India. "We can not compete the size of subsidy and low input cost offered by Indian government to various sectors of economy," he said. He suggested that Pakistan should move slowly, and carefully, in promoting trade relations at regional level after taking safeguard for local industries.
MQM's Farooq Sattar said that non-tariff barrier imposed by Indian government on goods from Pakistani origin must be removed and must address the security concerns linked with road route between the two countries. Sherry said that her party government was proactive while promoting trade with regional countries. To remove bottlenecks between Pak-India working groups were set up on various economic sectors. Recently, Pakistan signed a protocol agreement with Afghanistan. She stressed: "We did have serious security issues while dealing with regional countries as economy had been facing losing of approximately $58 billion in war against terror".
On the restructuring of state owned entities (SOEs), representatives of political parties agreed that appointment of CEOs must be made beyond any political affiliations. They also recommended an independent body including representatives of PBC must be taken on board in the process of appointment of CEOs.
Former Information Minister said that Pakistan had not yet granted MFN status to India, but Islamabad had also identified 27 non-tariff barriers that are hindering exports of Pak made-ups. There is bi-partisan agreement that all parties were in favour of boosting regional trade including bilateral economic ties with New Delhi. She said that unlike India where Indian Prime Minister had to face wrath from the parliamentarians after Sharm ul Sheikh meeting, but in Pakistan all political parties as well as military was on board for enhancing trade ties with India. She said that PIA was conducting its operational flights to India, but Indian Airline was not reciprocating in the same manner.
Ahsan Iqbal said that the government must have made the appointment of CEOs transparent if it desires to turn around the ailing SOEs like PIA. He suggested recommendations of PBC must be taken in the appointment of CEOs of these entities and given full financial autonomy.
The PML-N leader said that there was one billion people market and Pakistan should boost trade ties with India. However, he deplored that Indian channels could be seen in Pakistan, but Pakistan's TV channels were not allowed to broadcast transmission in India.
Senator Waqar Ahmed fully endorsed the saying of PML-N and said that the issues of restructuring SOEs were taken by Cabinet Committee on Restructuring. He said individuals who had asset management experiences must be consulted before appointment of CEOs. Awais Laghari from PML-Q was against injecting more money in existing public education system without introducing reforms, as it would be waste of public money.
Farooq Sattar recommended that at least 5 percent to GDP must be allocated for education sector, as the country could not progress without strong educational base. PML-N Khurram Dastgheer said that free trade agreements were considered as double edged sword and serious thinking and homework was required to analyse competitive advantages before moving towards boosting trade ties with India.
On the issue of enhancing trade ties with India, Farooq Sattar supported the idea of increasing trade relations between the two countries. About establishment of an independent National Accountability Commission after enactment of new bill, PML-N MNA Zahid Hamid said that the PPP-led government had introduced new accountability bill on which the PML-N submitted 58 amendments. Finally there were four major amendments to enhance accountability net to military generals, judges and civil bureaucrats, establishment of independent National Accountability Commission and granting powers to investigate from its own team instead of replying upon FIA, but the government remained unmoved and now the bill was pending in the Standing Committee of the Lower House for the last several months.
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