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ISLAMABAD: The Senate on Thursday expressed outrage over the report on legislators who are alleged tax-dodgers and termed it a calculated bid to malign the politicians.
Sabir Ali Baloch, who chaired the proceedings, referred the matter to the House standing committee on finance and summoned the FBR chairman for sharing secret data with the media, as the treasury and opposition legislators joined hands against the ‘irresponsible media’. There were also calls for a code of conduct for the media and framing laws of defamation and damages. The chair called the media report on legislators highly irresponsible and said the House committee should summon the irresponsible elements and initiate action against them. The senators set aside their political rivalries and took on the media for an hour.
There were demands from the lawmakers that the media should also now apologise for defaming them, as much as they had flashed the misleading information about them. They questioned why the media had chosen politicians for projecting them as tax evaders.
Initially, the issue was raised by JUI-F Senator Ghulam Ali, which led to a heated debate in the House. Senators called on the media houses to also present their income and tax details before the nation. They took strong exception to the use of the term ‘tax thieves’ for honourable lawmakers in some media presentations.
Leader of the Opposition Ishaq Dar asserted that someone was projecting this on payment and wondered how the secret information was leaked. He asked the FBR chairman to take notice of the issue. He said he was a regular taxpayer and regretted to share with the House the fact that during the last four years, he had spent Rs74.6 million on charity from his own pocket and was taking care of 106 orphans under a trust. He said he had paid Rs 200,000 tax.
The senator questioned how the FBR could share his information with someone without his permission. He added the sentiments expressed from the members on both sides of the divide were genuine.
PML-Q president Ch Shujaat Hussain, while giving his statement in the Senate, presented the details of the taxes he, the deputy prime minister Pervaiz Elahi and federal minister Ch Wajahat Hussain paid to the tax authority.
He strongly rejected the impression created by the media report that he, Pervaiz Elahi and Wajahat Hussain did not pay taxes. He came to the Senate with documents showing the details of the tax he had paid.
Shujaat said that he submitted a tax return on Sept 29, 2012 for the period from July 1, 2011 to June 20, 2012 and he had paid Rs647,553 while Ch Pervaiz Elahi paid Rs263,400 for the same period and Ch Wajahat Hussain paid Rs380,919 for the same period.
He advised the media to verify the information prior to releasing the same to the public. “It is our demand that both the print and the electronic media should share with us the details of taxes worth billions they have yet to pay to the FBR. “How come the media reported that 60 senators did not pay taxes whereas our tax is deducted at source,” retorted Kamil Ali Agha of the PML-Q.
PPP’s Aitzaz Ahsan also wanted to know which media groups were yet to pay their sales and other taxes and insisted they should be summoned. He proposed the formation of a House panel on this count. The senators welcomed his suggestion with the thumping of desks.
ANP Senator Afrasiab Khattak pointed out the media in the West was free but at the same time there were strong laws of defamation and damages to deal with unfounded and untrue media reports. He said the media was free in Pakistan but the related laws were very weak. He charged that parliament had failed to enact media laws for trial and punishment to those who resorted to distortion of facts.
He claimed majority of working journalists themselves were victims of exploitation by the media houses, who worked in concentration camps. He called for summoning such media houses before the House finance committee. Those who spoke on the subject including Kulsoom Parveen, Saeed Ghani and Haji Muhammad Adeel.
On a point of order, PML-N’s Syed Zafar Ali Shah questioned why President Asif Ali Zardari did not visit Iran with which an agreement was signed for the construction of a gas pipeline to cope with the aggravating energy crisis in Pakistan.
He sought an explanation from the government whether the US for which Pakistan had suffered a lot had sabotaged the agreement, as it was strongly opposed to it. “Did the US do this in our sympathy or in our opposition,” he asked. On this no minister or treasury member reacted but the chair said that the government was fully conscious of its responsibilities and would not go against the country’s interests.
Sabir Ali Baloch, who chaired the proceedings, referred the matter to the House standing committee on finance and summoned the FBR chairman for sharing secret data with the media, as the treasury and opposition legislators joined hands against the ‘irresponsible media’. There were also calls for a code of conduct for the media and framing laws of defamation and damages. The chair called the media report on legislators highly irresponsible and said the House committee should summon the irresponsible elements and initiate action against them. The senators set aside their political rivalries and took on the media for an hour.
There were demands from the lawmakers that the media should also now apologise for defaming them, as much as they had flashed the misleading information about them. They questioned why the media had chosen politicians for projecting them as tax evaders.
Initially, the issue was raised by JUI-F Senator Ghulam Ali, which led to a heated debate in the House. Senators called on the media houses to also present their income and tax details before the nation. They took strong exception to the use of the term ‘tax thieves’ for honourable lawmakers in some media presentations.
Leader of the Opposition Ishaq Dar asserted that someone was projecting this on payment and wondered how the secret information was leaked. He asked the FBR chairman to take notice of the issue. He said he was a regular taxpayer and regretted to share with the House the fact that during the last four years, he had spent Rs74.6 million on charity from his own pocket and was taking care of 106 orphans under a trust. He said he had paid Rs 200,000 tax.
The senator questioned how the FBR could share his information with someone without his permission. He added the sentiments expressed from the members on both sides of the divide were genuine.
PML-Q president Ch Shujaat Hussain, while giving his statement in the Senate, presented the details of the taxes he, the deputy prime minister Pervaiz Elahi and federal minister Ch Wajahat Hussain paid to the tax authority.
He strongly rejected the impression created by the media report that he, Pervaiz Elahi and Wajahat Hussain did not pay taxes. He came to the Senate with documents showing the details of the tax he had paid.
Shujaat said that he submitted a tax return on Sept 29, 2012 for the period from July 1, 2011 to June 20, 2012 and he had paid Rs647,553 while Ch Pervaiz Elahi paid Rs263,400 for the same period and Ch Wajahat Hussain paid Rs380,919 for the same period.
He advised the media to verify the information prior to releasing the same to the public. “It is our demand that both the print and the electronic media should share with us the details of taxes worth billions they have yet to pay to the FBR. “How come the media reported that 60 senators did not pay taxes whereas our tax is deducted at source,” retorted Kamil Ali Agha of the PML-Q.
PPP’s Aitzaz Ahsan also wanted to know which media groups were yet to pay their sales and other taxes and insisted they should be summoned. He proposed the formation of a House panel on this count. The senators welcomed his suggestion with the thumping of desks.
ANP Senator Afrasiab Khattak pointed out the media in the West was free but at the same time there were strong laws of defamation and damages to deal with unfounded and untrue media reports. He said the media was free in Pakistan but the related laws were very weak. He charged that parliament had failed to enact media laws for trial and punishment to those who resorted to distortion of facts.
He claimed majority of working journalists themselves were victims of exploitation by the media houses, who worked in concentration camps. He called for summoning such media houses before the House finance committee. Those who spoke on the subject including Kulsoom Parveen, Saeed Ghani and Haji Muhammad Adeel.
On a point of order, PML-N’s Syed Zafar Ali Shah questioned why President Asif Ali Zardari did not visit Iran with which an agreement was signed for the construction of a gas pipeline to cope with the aggravating energy crisis in Pakistan.
He sought an explanation from the government whether the US for which Pakistan had suffered a lot had sabotaged the agreement, as it was strongly opposed to it. “Did the US do this in our sympathy or in our opposition,” he asked. On this no minister or treasury member reacted but the chair said that the government was fully conscious of its responsibilities and would not go against the country’s interests.
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