RECENTLY, I visited some flood-affected areas in Sindh with my friends and was shocked to see the suffering of the people in those villages and towns. Children over there seemed to have forgotten to even smile and play.

Moved by what I came across during the visit, I wrote to a superior official in the Convent of Sisters in Italy to send us some chocolates and cheese for these children as a token of love and sympathy. I had planned to distribute these things among the unfortunate children on Christmas.

The small parcel did come, but, to my surprise, I was asked to pay Rs33,000 as tax.

I am forced to send this token of love back to Italy because I can buy something else for these people with the same amount of money from the local market. If I was doing some business, I could understand the imposition of taxes, but for a small box purely for humanitarian purposes, there should have been no tax.

Dr Emmanuel Parvez
Faisalabad

Published in Dawn, December 10th, 2022