PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly on Monday unanimously passed a resolution urging the federal government to extend the tax exemption of Malakand division and tribal districts from 2023 to 2033.

The resolution was jointly moved by members of the opposition Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal Inayatullah and Hidayatur Rehman, Pakistan Peoples Party’s Sahibzada Sanaullah, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s Sobia Shahid and Awami National Party’s Sardar Hussain Babak and ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s Fazal Hakim and Anwar Zeb during the assembly session.

The resolution read, “The government, following 25th Constitutional Amendment, decided merging erstwhile Fata and Malakand division in KP where it was decided that erstwhile fata and Malakand division will have tax exemption till 2023.

“Unfortunately, the resolution read, Malakand division faced natural and man-made disasters for two decades adding traders faced losses during government operations in the past followed by earthquake, floods on different intervals and Covid-19 pandemic. It also read that a wave of unrest has emerged again which has compelled the traders’ community to leave the areas.”

According to the resolution, the people are receiving extortion calls and that besides common men, public representatives and provincial ministers, too, are unsafe.

“Residents of Malakand division are not in a position to start paying tax from 2023 according to the government’s decision, so the house recommends to the provincial government to recommend to the federal government that the tax exemption for the erstwhile Fata and Malakand division till 2023 be extended till 2033 so that the uncertainty among the business community and the local residents is addressed.”

The house also passed a resolution seeking an increase in the number of its seats reserved for religious minority.

Moved by minority MPA Wilson Wazir, the resolution said that 10 seats were reserved for religious minorities in the National Assembly, eight in the Punjab Assembly, nine in the Sindh Assembly and three each in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa assemblies.

“[Military leader] General Parvez Musharraf, under the Legal Framework Order, increased the number of National Assembly seats from 207 to 272. The number of seats was increased from 240 to 297 in the Punjab Assembly, from 100 to 130 in the Sindh Assembly, from 80 to 99 in the KP Assembly and from 40 to 51 in the Balochistan Assembly. Also, the ratio of the seats reserved for women was enhanced to 17 per cent, but no increase was made in the number of seats for minorities,” the resolution read.

According to the resolution, the KP Assembly demands of the federal government to amend the Constitution and increase the number of its seats for religious minority at the same ratio as done for general seats in the national and all four provincial assemblies.

The house also passed a resolution jointly moved by ANP member Sardar Hussain Babak, PML-N’s Sardar Mohammad Youasf, PTI’s Shaukat Ali Yousafzai and PPP’s Nighat Orakzai demanding of the government to provide the translated version of the Holy Quran along with its tafseer in local languages to all mosques of the province.

The resolution said that the initiative would help all residents to understand the Holy Quran and make it as a guiding light for their lives.

Published in Dawn, December 13th, 2022