Exporters' concerns

According to a report in this newspaper on 14th December 2017, exporters have shown their grave concern over the arrest of their potential foreign clients on the charges of currency smuggling at the airport who come to visit Pakistan for placing orders after physical inspection of manufacturing units. Sources claim that in the last few weeks a number of foreign customers carrying foreign currency beyond the specified limit of dollar 10,000 were sent to jail on judicial remand after registration of FIRs against them under section 156 of the Customs Act 1969. The foreigners, particularly Americans and Europeans, are already reluctant to visit Pakistan because of the security situation but if the present attitude of customs staff continued, nobody will visit Pakistan. It was further reported that the customs staff at the Lahore airport treats foreign customers and currency smugglers without any distinction. The accused persons are sent to special judges of customs who mostly keep them in jails till the time they confess their crimes. A South Korean importer who had donated a huge amount during earthquake and floods was arrested at the Lahore airport for carrying dollar 18,000 and sent to jail. He had to pay a half a million rupees fine while his dollar 18,000 were confiscated to get him released. His request to allow him to go out and hand over excess amount to his friend waiting outside the airport was not accepted. It was also revealed that the passengers carrying Rs 5000 notes were also treated very badly.
We feel that the above complaint of exporters is very valid and needs to be investigated in detail and rectified. This is due to the fact that the country needs to promote exports at all costs and investors' reluctance to visit the country on one pretext or the other may harm the potential of our exports. Under the existing laws, some of the genuine importers, if treated as smugglers, could face an imprisonment of 14 years, confiscation of currency and a substantial amount of fine. Exporters have quoted certain examples where foreign businesspeople visiting Pakistan were shabbily treated. Obviously, they will not like to visit Pakistan to evaluate exporters' capacity and quality of their products at the manufacturing stage. They will also spread the word among other importers about the undesirability of visiting Pakistan for placing orders. This may cause irreparable loss to our exports. In our view, the government may take several measures which could remove the difficulties of importers and exporters. For instance, the relevant department should be advised in order to treat the smugglers and genuine businessmen differently. The latter should only be awarded penalty on excess amount or should be allowed to hand over the excess amount to some other persons who may be waiting outside the airport. The limit of dollar 10,000 could also be increased keeping in view the local expenditures incurred by an importer during his or her stay in Pakistan. A certificate to the incoming importer could also be issued, stating the total amount he is carrying at the time of arrival and allow him to carry back the same amount at the time of his departure. And lastly, exporters of the country may be strictly asked to inform the incoming importers about the currency rules of Pakistan so that they are not caught unawares. Also, we don't know why passengers having Rs 5,000 denomination notes are discouraged when our currency is easily acceptable in countries like Iran, Syria and Iraq. In short, customs' laws, and other relevant rules and regulations should be so designed that the country's exports are not adversely affected while importers do not face unnecessary restrictions.