LAHORE: The Punjab University Academic Staff Association (PUASA) on Tuesday boycotted classes in protest against the abolition of tax exemption in salaries.

The general body meeting of the association was attended by ASA President Dr Amjad Magsi, Secretary Dr Muhammad Islam and a large number of teachers who protested for the restoration of tax exemption and announced to widen the protest from the joint forum of all universities of the country.

Dr Magsi said that representatives of different universities were in consultation and they would work with the teachers of all universities to decide on the future course of action as teachers of all universities in the country were affected by the government policies.

The PUASA will follow the protest plan announced by the Federation of All Pakistan Universities Academic Staff Association (FAPUASA) on March 6 and 11.

The ASA president demanded suspension of the policeman who misbehaved with the PU teachers the other day. He said police officers and officials have also been affected by the new pension scheme. Saying that the teachers used to get 25pc tax exemption in their salaries, he termed withdrawal of facilities from them injustice when members of the assembly and ministers were increasing their salaries and cricketers were getting tax exemption. He said the FBR had issued a notification to end tax exemption from 2022, after which, in addition to ending the 25pc tax exemption from the salaries of teachers, deduction of arrears had also started.

Dr Magsi demanded the federal government immediately withdraw the notification to end tax exemption and issue a notification to restore the previous pension rules as promised.

Earlier, the FAPUASA on Tuesday announced to observe a black day on March 6 (Thursday) followed by a series of protests, starting with classes boycott and rallies on March 11.

In an emergent online meeting of the FAPUASA Executive Council, chaired by FAPUASA President Dr Amjad Abbas Magsi, the FAPUASA termed the discontinuation of the 25pc tax rebate as the anti-education policy of the government.

The FAPUASA president said that the rebate was approved by the National Assembly in June 2024 and had been granted in previous years, and now the FBR was deducting the salaries of university teachers, which was illegal and illogical.

Dr Magsi stressed that the FBR’s actions exceeded its authority and undermined the Parliament. The FAPUASA announced a black day on March 6 across all universities nationwide. It condemned the manhandling of PU teachers by police during the peaceful protest.

Published in Dawn, March 5th, 2025