ISLAMABAD - Central President Awami National Party (ANP) Asfandyar Wali Khan Monday directed his party’s office-bearers to unleash a string of protest demonstrations against the Customs Act imposed in Malakand Division.
The ANP termed the extension of the tax to Malakand as violation of the commitments made with the people of three former princely states that merged with Pakistan in 1969. “Under the agreement, the federal government cannot extend Customs Act to Provincially Administered Tribal Areas or PATA till 2060. We will resist it,” Mr Khan said in a statement issued here.
He argued the area was hit hard by terrorism and flash floods adding imposing new taxes in the PATA will invite ire of the area people who, according to him, are already reeling from the devastation caused by terror and natural calamities.
He said the provincial government of Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) was a complicit in covertly accepting the summary in this regard that was approved by the Governor Office KP.
Though there is a confusion as to who moved the summary pertaining to imposition of Custom Act in Malakand region, the newly-appointed Governor KP Iqbal Zafar Jhagra exonerated himself from the development by saying that the decision was taken by his predecessor in September 2015.
All political parties in KP including the PTI has shown resentment over the development arguing the people of Malakand and the provincial government had been kept in dark about the move and were not consulted.
FATA and PATA have almost the same legal status in the Constitution and are exempted from tax. The extension of the Customs Act has triggered heated debate in the province besides inviting strong reaction from political forces.