IT is hardly a coincidence that the National Accountability Bureau has ramped up its efforts against members of the opposition parties in recent days as they go full throttle in their criticism of the PTI government.
Just days after Prime Minister Imran Khan in a fiery speech expressed his frustration with the accountability process and demanded the speedy conclusion of cases, NAB approved a spate of references against PML-N leaders, including Nawaz Sharif, his ex-secretary Fawad Hasan Fawad, former minister Ahsan Iqbal, former foreign secretary Aizaz Chaudhry and former IB chief Aftab Sultan. Not only did this string of references come hot on the heels of the prime minister’s demand, his impassioned public plea to the chief justice of Pakistan that ‘for God’s sake, decide corruption cases early’, too, saw the Supreme Court order all 24 accountability courts to expedite proceedings in corruption references without granting any adjournments to parties.
The prime minister’s directives to accountability bodies reflect a flawed and deeply troubling approach to justice. No doubt, Mr Khan is feeling the heat of the united opposition’s unreserved criticism against him at the back-to-back rallies of the Pakistan Democratic Movement. However, hurling threats at political leaders, vowing to put more pressure on them through fresh cases and cancelling production orders all reek of personal vendetta — a charge made by opposition parties for the last two years against the prime minister.
Since the PTI came to power in 2018, opposition party members have time and again accused the government and its corruption watchdogs of a biased, one-sided and politically motivated witch-hunt. By lashing out at his opponents and threatening stricter and speedier action against them at a public forum, the prime minister is diluting his own claims that these institutions are independent and is strengthening the opposition’s allegations of a targeted campaign.
Moreover, against the backdrop of the accusations made by ex-DG FIA Bashir Memon some weeks earlier, in which he claimed that the prime minister ordered him to prosecute opposition party members without evidence, the entire accountability drive looks deeply personal and reactive. This is a dangerous trend that is sure to backfire, as it negates the very principles of independent, impartial accountability that form the basis of any equitable justice system.
If this targeted approach continues to be the modus operandi of the government and accountability bodies, it will have far-reaching implications for the people’s trust in the justice system. Across the country, there is already a robust public debate taking place about the separation of powers, the independence of institutions and the alleged interference of some entities in processes that are not within their purview. Mr Khan would be well-advised to rethink this policy of an overzealous, compliant accountability body, as it makes a mockery of his claim that NAB and other watchdog bodies are independent institutions functioning without any external influence.
Withholding tax
PAKISTAN has one of the most inefficient, cumbersome and unfair tax systems in the world. The emphasis of tax policy has mostly been on revenue collection through indirect taxes, which stunts economic growth, burdens businesses by adding to their operational costs, discourages compliance, encourages evasion, etc. The obsession of the authorities with indirect taxation has grown to the point where more than two-thirds of income tax is harvested through the withholding regime owing to the ease in collection and without officials having to leave their offices. Sadly, many withholding taxes are imposed on consumption and unjustly burden honest taxpayers or those who are not required to pay tax on their incomes at all. For example, approximately 100m Pakistanis are forced to pay a hefty 12.5pc adjustable advance income tax as mobile phone users although a large majority earn far less than the income threshold that attracts (direct) tax. Such distortions in the system impede efforts to broaden the net. Apart from ease in collection, the lack of capacity of the officials of the Federal Board of Revenue to correctly assess the taxable income of a person has also increased their reliance on the regressive withholding regime. This can be gauged from the fact that the efforts of FBR staffers yield less than 5pc of the total income tax gathered in any given year.
Realising the gravity of the situation and the negative impact of withholding taxes on economic growth, businesses and individuals, Prime Minister Imran Khan has directed the FBR to scrap all “unnecessary withholding taxes” as part of its reorganisation for broadening the net for sustainable fiscal stability. With the future of the country’s economy tightly tied with the performance of the FBR, the elimination of regressive withholding levies is crucial to restoring public trust in the system and encouraging tax compliance. Rather than creating hardships for pensioners, widows, labour and others who don’t have taxable incomes, the FBR must focus on broadening the tax net. In this age of technology and abundance of data on the financial history of individuals, it should not be difficult for the tax authorities to assess incomes to ensure compliance and widen the net. The FBR claims to have a list of more than 3m wealthy people who live a luxurious life but who do not pay tax or file returns. It is high time the authority moved beyond sending such individuals notices and took punitive action against them.
World Polio Day
WHILE Pakistan has been relatively luckier than most countries in preventing a high Covid-19 infection rate and death toll, the polio monster — which has been vanquished everywhere except in Pakistan and Afghanistan — has continued to cripple youngsters. As warnings are issued about a second wave of coronavirus infections, the fact that some 80 polio cases have been reported this year alone has slipped through the cracks. Today, as World Polio Day is observed by an international community that, for the most part, has rid itself of the disease, considerable introspection is required at our end. It is clear that the incidence of polio is not only rising, but that it is doing so with a vengeance.
The alarm was also raised by the global polio watchdog in its last assessment in August, when it warned that cases of both wild and vaccine-derived poliovirus were going to rise steeply in the country. Though the authorities might blame this on the ongoing pandemic, the Independent Monitoring Board report and other evidence indicate that problems began way before the pandemic struck, though the more recent emergency did exacerbate matters and put every other health issue on the back-burner. The IMB report has questioned the structural and technical capabilities of the country’s polio programme, and identified negligence in key areas, for instance, failing to appoint doctors to spearhead the polio response in eight super-high risk union councils of Karachi. However, despite all its problems, the polio programme proved to be useful in controlling the spread of Covid-19 as the vast network of community health workers was utilised for contact tracing. Vaccination campaigns resumed in July after a hiatus of four months, but full resumption of anti-polio efforts will take time and some rethinking on the part of the authorities. A workable solution is required to synergise and expand the existing community health network to include local doctors to combat Covid-19 and polio — both highly communicable illnesses — at the same time and not at the cost of the other.
