January 24, 2003	Friday	Ziqa’ad 20, 1423

FAISALABAD, Jan 23: All Pakistan Sizing Industries Association and its affiliated trade bodies have threatened to observe a country-wide strike if the government does not withdraw the SRO-575 within next couple of days.

Talking to newsmen here on Thursday, Chairman APSIZ, Mirza Muhammad Shafique, said that officials of the income tax and sales tax department were hatching conspiracies to restore the old GST rate by replacing the SRO-417 with new SRO-575 for the powerlooms, sizing, calendaring and other textile ancillary units.

“It was made mandatory in the old SRO that the factories and units registered with General Sales Tax will not include in the GST rate. But under new SRO, exporters have been exempted from taking invoices from the powerlooms and other units, which would open a Pandora box. High ups of the Central Board of Revenue and State Bank of Pakistan have been repeatedly requested to restore the SRO-417 by withdrawing new SRO-575. But all efforts in this regard proved an exercise in futility, he added.

Meanwhile, All Pakistan Cotton Powerlooms Association (APCPA) has termed the SRO-575 as harmful for the textile sector claiming that owners of scores of powerlooms, sizing and other textile related units would be left with no option but to close their factories.

In a statement, the chairman APCPA, Rana Ikhlaq Ahmed and its vice chairman, Muhammad Akram Ghauri said that during the documentation of powerlooms and other textile related units, the exporters were bound to get an invoice from the owners of powerloom units during their claims of refund.

They claimed that in such circumstances, the owners of powerlooms and sizing industries have been left with no option but to close their factories, which would not only trigger colossal loss for the exporters but also for the national economy.