Saraikistan News

LAWYERS STRIKE
MULTAN, Oct 18th:Lawyers of Multan organised a rally and held a protest meeting in High Court Bar Complex as a protest against not implementation on the judgements of the apex court.Lawyers boycotted their professional duties and did not join the proceedings in the courtat the call of Supreme Court Bar Association .President of High Court Bar Multan Shaikh Jamshed Hayat said that present government had developed a state of war with the Judiciary by appointing corrupt elements on key posts who were declared ineligible to serve on these significant offices.Similarly NRO beneficiaries were not removed from the cabinet and a disputed person was appointed as chairman of Nationbal Accountability Bureau.A number of Lawyers protested outside the High Court Bar complex on Monday and shouted slogans against the Law Minister Babar Awan and in support of Judiciary Lawyers further said that they would not allow anybody to damage the respect of free judiciary. Later they chanted the slogans in support of Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudry

PCGA
MULTAN,Oct 18th: THe Central Executive Committee of Pakistan Cotton Ginneers Association(PCGA)has rejected the proposed taxation on the cotton trade describing it an economic massacre of the ginners and said that such steps would be harmful to the already destroyed industries.Addressing a meeting of CEC here todat PCGA Chairman Masud A Majeed said that PCGA leadership would convince the FBR about the negative impact of new taxation on the ginning sector and other industry.He said that recent floods, continuous load shedding of power and gas, the highest power tariff and dearness had ruined the industry and future proposed taxation would be harmful to sinking industry.He said that cost of production had increased manytimes which caused ouster of Pakistan from the competition in world market.Now we are not able to compete even India, Bangladesh, Thailand,Taiwan,Malaysia and other countries.Masud A Majeed stressed the need for taking steps on war-footing basis to meet the demand of electricity and Gas.PCGA Chairman said that Government should ensure uninterrupted supply of electricity to ginning sector in Punjab and Sindh during the current peak season.Vice Chairman for KP and Punjab Nawab Shehzad Ali Khan said that Ginners are paying one percent income taxon the sale of cotton which should be sufficient and final as per agreement between the FBR and PCGA but FBR had proposed to levy one percent income tax on oil-cake (Khal) Oilseed (Binola) and Meal and other byproducts.He said that levy of income tax at each and every processing of cotton was repugnant to the norms of free trade.Such steps would increase the prices of by products of cotton in the market,resultantly it would affect the price and production of milk.Industrialists would be forced to close their business causing rendering millions of people jobless. He suggested that Government should introduce the cheapest tariff for agriculture and ginning industry.Tax Bar Association's former president Muhammad Younas Ghazi gave briefing to the CECE member of PCGA on the proposed Reformed General Sales Tax (RGST)and Income tax.The Meeting was ex-chairman Haji Muhammad Akram, Haji Hafeez Anwar, Mahesh Kumar, Haji Mukhtar Ahmed Baloch, Rao Sadar-uddin , Khawaja Muhammad Azam, Khawaja Muhammad Farooq Ahmed, Muhammad Arif Aziz, Shaikh Muhammad Asim Saeed, Malik Amjad Farooq Khandwa, Shaikh Abbas Raza, Muhammad Javed Iqbal, Ch.Khalid Javed, Jehanzeb saeed, Shaikh Muhamad Ayyub, Mian Akhtar Javed and Haji Haq Nawaz Khan. The meeting demanded of Punjab Chief Minister Mian Shahbaz Sharif to recover the looted cash of Rs.6.1 million from the Rana Khan Muhammad & Company Ginning & Pressing Industry Chichwatni.Office bearers of PCGA would call on heads and Regional Chief Executives of commercial banks to settle the disputes.

REACTION/ PM SPEECH
MULTAN,Oct 18th:- Leaders of various political parties have pointed out lack of substance in Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gillani’s address to the nation on Sunday. Most politicians drew attention to the fact that the Prime Minister did not explicitly mention whether the executive order about the restoration of judges could be withdrawn or not. They said the address, for a large part, was a desperate effort to win back the credibility that his government is fast losing.
Senior PML-N leader Memona Hashmi,MNA said that there was nothing new in the Prime Minister’s speech who seems powerless even after the passage of the 18th amendment in the constitution. He said the PM had disappointed the nation as he gave no hint of implementing the court verdict on NRO in letter and in spirit.
Chief of APML Multan Sultan Mehmood Malik said that the Prime Minister addressed the nation in a bid to avoid submitting written reply to the Supreme Court as well as to keep the executive order withdrawal option in his hands.
“The Prime Minister hasn’t said that executive order could not be withdrawn. He only focused on the denial of ‘false’ news,” stated the APML Multan chapter chief. He said that the judges restoration under executive order remains under threat and the events in the near future would unfold the real objective of the premier’s address.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Central Vice President Ijaz Ahmed Chaudhry said that the Prime Minister gave no clue that his government was going to implement the court orders regarding NRO or not. He said government was just making hollow claims of respecting the judiciary without taking practical steps to show its adherence of SC judgements.
PML-Q Leader and former federal Minister for food & Agriculture Alhaj Sikandar Hayat Bosan said that the country’s chief executive’s address to the nation was aimed at filling the credibility gap of the his government since he knows that his government has failed to solve the problems of the masses. He denied the Prime Minister’s claim that the PPP enjoyed the support of the all the federation units. He said that there was nothing new in the address of the Prime Minister.
He said the Prime Minister’s address was disappointing for the masses. He said that the premier tried to give an impression that the government still enjoyed the support of all its allies which is not true.He said neither the Chief Minister Punjab Mian Shahbaz Sharif nor any PML-N leader seen there with the PM. He said the government’s differences with PML-N were growing and it could also lose support of MQM, its major ally in Sindh.
Naib Ameer JI Ounjab Rao Zafar Iqbal said that the Prime Minister did not mention the Supreme Court’s decision of December 2009 in which government was asked to write letter to the Swiss Government for reopening of the corruption cases against the President. He said that if the Prime Minister really wanted to establish political stability and work with the judiciary in a cordial environment, then he should follow the orders of the superior judiciary and avoid confrontational policies.
Meanwhile, Senior PPP leader and media coordinator to Prime Minister Khawaja Rizwan Alam said it was good to see the Prime Minister declaring that his government would continue to follow the policy of national reconciliation to strengthen the system. He said it was appreciable that the PM showed respect for the judiciary and expressed his desire to work with it.

MCCI
MULTAN,Oct 18th:Multan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (MCCI), President Shahid Naseem Khokhar has termed the energy crisis, terrorism, imposition of reformed GST and double-digit mark up as major threats to the country's economy. He said that the floods have damaged the economy, and suggested that with short term policies it is dire need of time to engineer long term policies. He emphasised the need of building dams and activating the installed IPPs which are closed, besides generating electricity from alternative sources of energy like coal, wind and solar which would provide cheaper electricity to boost industrial production.He suggested that public opinion must be designed for 'reformed GST' to exploit its real benefits as western countries are doing. "But the present scenario RGST must be delayed for public discussion and concrete consensus," he said and emphasised to extend tax network and bring agriculture in this circle.He also demanded restructuring of FBR to ensure its credibility in the eyes of the taxpayers. He also stressed to exploit natural resources to get maximum revenue. About mark-up rate, he said only single-digit rate of mark-up can relax the industry to run otherwise rate of inflation and price hiking will increase day by day. The government should follow the austerity plan by cutting down the expenditures on luxuries, he added.