LAST year in January I had an opportunity to perform Umrah. After the pilgrimage, I proceeded to Madina. On my way to Riyadh by air to stay with my son, I purchased three kilogrammes of Ajwa dates for 50 Saudi riyals (SR).

On reaching Riyadh airport, no charges were demanded for carrying the dates. In Riyadh, I also had some Aab-i-Zam Zam with me for which no charges were demanded from me. No international/domestic airline charged me for carrying dates and Aab-i-Zam Zam.

While leaving Riyadh for Pakistan, I forgot to carry the dates. Later, my son booked them through a private courier so that I may distribute the traditional gift among relatives and friends. The dates did arrive after a couple of days and when I went to pick up the parcel, I had to pay Rs9,283 in taxes and duties.

It included duty (Rs1,224), additional Customs duty (Rs367), additional sales tax (Rs286), government excise tax (Rs55), airport handling charges (Rs572), advance income tax (Rs630), Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) charges (Rs750), regulatory duty (Rs1,836) other/disbursement fee (Rs400) and D/O charges (Rs1,325).

I paid the amount, brought home the dates and distributed them among friends and family. But I kept thinking it would have been better if, instead of bringing them from Saudi Arabia, I had purchased these dates from the local market.

I also felt bad and sad about the moral values of the authorities concerned for charging these dates despite knowing that they were just the traditional gifts that everybody knows about well.

M.S. Arshad Sheikh
Karachi

Published in Dawn, April 20th, 2023