ISLAMABAD, March 12: The International Labour Organization (ILO) has asked Pakistan to preserve labour rights in the tobacco industry of the country.
The ILO said Pakistan should keep a check on those groups in the tobacco industry, which do not believe in the rights nor in preserving the health and safety of the workers and growers.
According to a statement issued here on Tuesday, the ILO had given this call at its tripartite meeting on the future of employment in the tobacco sector held in Geneva recently. The meeting was attended among others by representatives of the governments, employers, and employees of tobacco sector from Brazil, China, Germany, Italy, Cuba, France, Pakistan, Indonesia, Tunisia and Honduras.
At its fifth plenary sitting, the meeting observed that the high tax and excise duty on tobacco in Pakistan had led to the emergence of a group, which had grown to roughly 20 per cent of the market share, which evaded tax and duty payments.
The meeting noted that the group did not believe in the rights nor in preserving the health and safety of the workers and growers.
The tobacco industry is among major revenue generating sectors for the government as it contributes around Rs20 billion annually to the national exchequer and in the form of different taxes and duties.
However, the government was facing an annual loss of around Rs8 billion due to counterfeiting, tax evasion and smuggling in the tobacco sector.
According to a tax expert those making counterfeit cigarettes were also evading taxes to widen their profit margins, besides damaging the local tobacco industry. He said it was obvious that these counterfeits manufacturers were not taking proper measures towards the rights and safety of their workers.
He said the law-enforcement agencies were either not well equipped or lacked will to take cognizance of this illegal activity. The counterfeit mafia had become so strong that the government was reluctant to take action against them, he added.
However, a survey of action against tobacco counterfeits revealed that over a period of two years, hundreds of raids were conducted in a number of cities, including Lahore, Hafizabad, Sheikhupura, Rawalpindi, Faisalabad, Jarawala, Sargodha, Sialkot, Chiniot, Narowal, Gojra, Hyderabad etc. During these raids only 113 persons were booked and among these only one third were awarded punishments. All of them were fined a total of Rs27,500 and sent to lock-up for not more than 14 days.