ISLAMABAD, Oct 23: The government is considering a proposal to abolish the negative list under Afghan Transit Trade (ATT) attaching it with a condition that Afghan government would raise import duty on these items.

Official sources told Dawn on Saturday that the proposal was sent to the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the federal cabinet for consideration in the next meeting.

The Central Board of Revenue (CBR) has proposed to the government to ask the Afghan government to raise duty on import of these items equivalent to that charged on import of these goods in Pakistan.

The idea of raising duty on these items, the officials said was that it would reduce the chances of smuggling back of these items into Pakistan through the porous border between the two countries causing harm to the national kitty and production of local industries.

The items to be considered for withdrawal included cigarillos and cigarettes of tobacco or of tobacco substitutes, dyes and chemicals, cooking oil, tyres and tubes, soap, auto parts (all sorts) and telephone sets.

The tax officials were collecting around Rs6-8 billion revenue from these items annually. The allowing of import of these items under ATT would mean that it could be easily smuggled back into Pakistan and would result into revenue loss to the national exchequer.

The decision to review the abolishing of negative list was taken following the constant requests of Afghan government and Afghan traders to Pakistani government during the last three years.

The government had removed 14 items from the negative list during the year 2003-04 to help the Afghan importers take active part in the reconstruction of the war-torn country.