BAJAUR: Bajaur Chamber of Commerce and Industry on Wednesday opposed extension of taxes to merged tribal districts and Malakand division proposed in the federal budget for the next fiscal year, calling the move economically “unviable” for a region battered by militancy.

Addressing a press conference in Khar, the president of the BCCI, Haji Lali Shah, said the budget’s proposal to bring sales and other federal taxes to the erstwhile Fata and Provincially Administered Tribal Areas or Pata, disregarded the area’s fragile economic base and history of displacement and conflict.

“Imposing a standard tax regime through the budget at this stage will destroy whatever is left of local trade and industry,” he said, adding it will lead to industrial closures, reduced investment and higher unemployment.

Mr Shah, flanked by senior chamber members, endorsed the rejection of the budget clause by traders in Malakand division, terming their concerns “justified”.

He said the merged districts had remained exempt from most taxes for decades under the Frontier Crimes Regulations and sudden taxation without infrastructure and incentives would deepen poverty.

He urged the prime minister and finance minister to amend the budget and exclude the tribal districts from the new tax net, citing their “special status, backwardness and financial crisis”.

The chamber chief warned that if the budget provision remained unchanged, business bodies across the former Fata and Pata would stage a mass demonstration in Islamabad.

He also criticised the federal budget for earmarking “inadequate” development funds for tribal districts.

Published in Dawn, June 18th, 2026