PESHAWAR: The business community has rejected the government decision requiring the traders to have quarantine certification and

imposition of regulatory duty on fresh and dry fruits being ferried between Pakistan and Afghanistan and feared that such steps will cause losses of billions of rupees to the community of both the countries.

The decision was conveyed by a delegation of Peshawar Fruit Trade Association during a meeting with Sarhad Chamber of Commerce and Industry President Zahidullah Khan Shinwari here on Friday.

The association’s leaders said that the new conditions of quarantine certification and regulatory duty had led to stoppage of hundreds of trucks loaded with consignments across the Pak-Afghan border.

The traders’ delegation was led by Ali Jan, Haji Qasid Jan, Usman Ghani and Alif Jan. They said they had tried to get the quarantine certification from the quarantine department but it declined to issue it and suggested to get it done from the concerned officials in Karachi.

The traders said it was a difficult task because it would take many months which would badly affect the bilateral trade between Kabul and Islamabad.

On the occasion, SCCI president asked the federal government to withdraw its decisions, otherwise such steps would cause huge losses to the business community and render huge number of workers jobless on both sides of the border.

Mr Shinwari said that if the decision was not withdrawn then rates of fresh and dry fruits would increase exorbitantly and as result the government would lose huge revenue on daily basis.

The SCCI chief assured the delegation of full support on part of the chamber and said meetings would be arranged with concerned officials to remove the restrictions on the bilateral trade.

AMNESTY SCHEME WELCOMED: The All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA), Khyber Pakhtunkhwa zone chairman Mohammad Kuli Khan Khattak has welcomed the announcement of Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi to offer one-time tax amnesty scheme for bringing foreign assets of Pakistanis back home.

In a statement issued on Friday, he appreciated the plan for broadening the dismally narrow tax base in the country and lowering tax rates for individuals, thus bringing wealthy into the tax net and dealing with the tax evasion through use of modern technology.

Published in Dawn, January 20th, 2018