LAHORE: Jamaat-i-Islam chief Senator Sirajul Haq has said the tax amnesty scheme is a blatant violation of Article 4, Section 25 of the Constitution and a negation of the election promises of the ruling PML-N.

“The PML-N leadership in its election campaign had pledged to recover the plundered money from the corrupt, but on the contrary, it is providing relief to the plunderers,” he said in a reaction to the proposed amnesty scheme.

He said the Constitution gave equal rights to all citizens but the ruling elite was giving undue concessions to those who usurped the rights of others.

“The proposed tax amnesty scheme is an open inducement to collect black money and get it whitened simply by paying a nominal amount,” he said, demanding of the finance minister to also tell the people about the money his government had collected in the name of “Qarz Utaro, Mulk Sanwaro” in the past.

Mr Haq said the government strategy to strike a bargain with those involved in the corruption of trillions, instead of bringing them to the tax net and recover the ill-gotten money was “most shameful”. “This is an open license to the plunderers of public money to carry on their practice,” he added.

Published in Dawn, January 3rd, 2016