LANDIKOTAL: Traders and former lawmakers from Khyber district on Monday rejected the federal government’s decision to impose taxes on the merged tribal districts, warning that they would launch a joint protest movement across Tirah, Bara, Jamrud and Landikotal if the decision was not withdrawn.
Speaking at a press conference, former federal minister Hameed Ullah Jan Afridi, industrialist Shah Khalid Afridi, Bara Bazaar Traders Union president Syed Ayaz, Tirah Bazaar president Sher Afghan, Landikotal traders’ leader Rafiuddin, and others said the tax measures would place an unbearable economic burden on people already struggling with insecurity, unemployment and a weak business environment.
The speakers said markets across Khyber district remained deserted, industries had shut down, and thousands of families from Tirah had been displaced by years of conflict. They argued that imposing new taxes under such circumstances was unjust.
They said that the promises made to the people of the former Fata at the time of its merger with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, including commitments related to the National Finance Commission Award and other constitutional and financial provisions, have yet to be fulfilled.The traders demanded the immediate withdrawal of all newly imposed taxes on the merged tribal districts.
