PESHAWAR: The All Pakistan Wholesale Mobile Dealers Association on Monday rejected the new tax on imported mobile phones and demanded of the government to extend the Dec 1 deadline for the verification of such cellphones for four months saying the sought-after action will help dealers dispose of their stocks to prevent losses.

Chairman of the APWMDA Haji Jehanzeb Khantold reporters at the Peshawar Press Club that the government’s move to impose 38 percent tax on imported mobiles was completely unjust and would deal a serious blow to the mobile phone business in the country.

He said the dealers had suffered huge financial losses due to the blocking of the mobile phones imported from China.

Demand extension in deadline for mobile phone verification

Mr Jehanzeb said around 80 percent of mobiles in the local market were made in Chinese and therefore, blocking them would be really unfair.

Accompanied by mobile phone dealers Ihsanullah Khan, Shahid Khan and others, he claimed that the government’s move was meant to remove the Chinese-made cellphone from the market to create space for some other mobile companies.

Mr Jehanzeb said the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority had so far not given guidelines for the used mobiles available in the market in large numbers.

He also said the government had yet to issue the order to fix the official rates of mobile phones.

The association president said on one hand, the government had promised to create employment opportunities but on the other, it had taken steps to close down the established businesses, which would create mass unemployment in the country.

He wondered if it was the Naya Pakistan (new Pakistan) Prime Minister Imran Khan had promised to create.

“The government should make a solid economic policy to strengthen the existing businesses instead of forcing them to close down,” he said.

Mr Jehanzeb urged the government and PTA to give dealers enough time to dispose of their stocks of imported mobile phones before imposing any restrictions on the business.

Published in Dawn, December 18th, 2018