Day: March 1, 2023

Islamabad, March 01, 2023 (PPI-OT): Federal Board of Revenue has once again demonstrated great revenue collection performance during February 2023, despite difficult economic situation. According to provisional figures, FBR collected Rs. 527.3 billion against the target of Rs. 527 Billion during the month of February 2023, exhibiting a growth of 16.3% compared to the same month last year. Cumulatively, FBR has collected Rs. 4,493 billion in the first eight months of the current financial year against Rs. 3,820 billion collected in the corresponding period of last year depicting a year-over-year growth of 18%.

FBR continues to show impressive performance during the third quarter of the current financial year which displays its unwavering commitment towards achieving the revised upward annual budgetary target of Rs. 7,641 billion despite economic challenges. As per the provisional data, direct tax collection grew at a robust pace of 47% during the first eight months of the current financial year which is reflective of Government’s policy of making taxation progressive and equitable through shifting tax burden towards society’s wealthy and affluent segments.

This consistent growth in direct taxes, particularly those from domestic sources, is, in large part, due to administrative and enforcement measures of the FBR. The contribution of domestic taxes has increased from 49.4% last year to 58.7% during the current year, pointing towards the success of policies aimed at reducing reliance on import duties and taxes. Furthermore, it is also significant that the collection from Customs Duty has shown an increase of 2% during the month of February 2023 compared to the same month last year. FBR has also stayed on top of addressing exporters’ liquidity needs through issuance of Rs. 235 billion in refunds during the first eight months of the current financial year as against Rs.198 billion during corresponding period of last year-a year-over-year increase of 19%.

FBR sincerely appreciates all those taxpayers who diligently fulfilled their national duty of paying due taxes. This would go a long way in achieving the budgetary target and also lauds the endeavours of all field formations and its officers for their untiring efforts and commitment to optimize revenue collection in challenging economic situation. This growth in tax revenues, especially direct taxes, underscores the resolve of the Government and FBR to make Pakistan a thriving, resilient and self-reliant nation which has the will and capacity to withstand the current economic challenges.

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Srinagar, March 01, 2023 (PPI-OT): In Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir, the Hindutva-inspired Modi regime has stripped the premier tertiary care health institute, Soura Institute of Medical Science, of its autonomous status, triggering criticism from political parties. A letter to the director of the hospital by the undersecretary of the General Administration department read: “The administration of Soura hospital has been assigned to Health and Medical Education Department”.

“Accordingly, I am directed to intimate you that henceforth all matters/proposals/case files may be submitted for consideration/approval of the Competent Authority (HLG) through Health and Medical Education Department,” it added. Political parties in the Valley decried the move and demanded an immediate rollback of the decision. National Conference chief spokesperson Tanvir Sadiq said undermining the premier healthcare institution autonomy by bringing it under the administrative control of the health department runs opposite to the government’s minimum government and maximum governance slogan, he added.

The institution has been met with step-motherly treatment under the current set up, Sadiq said. CPI-M Leader M Y Tarigami said Soura institution has over the years provided patient care much better than other facilities in the region. “Stripping what little autonomy this top-tier institution had will have an adverse impact on both its patient care and research,” he said.

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Srinagar, March 01, 2023 (PPI-OT): Intensifying its colonial agenda in Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir, the Narendra Modi-led fascist Indian regime has started attaching properties of Kashmiris on a large scale under the guise of providing support to the ongoing freedom movement. In this regard, New Delhi-controlled police have started the process to attach properties of nearly 168 persons who belong to different districts of the occupied territory. The police have dubbed these people as ‘militants’ presently residing in Azad Kashmir and Pakistan. The fact of the matter is that these people had migrated to AJK and Pakistan in the last three decades to save themselves from the wrath of ferocious Indian troops who are given a license to kill, terrorize and humiliate Kashmiris on one pretext or another.

The Indian Ministry of Home Affairs had recently directed the Police to initiate action against such people, including 118 from Doda, 36 from Kishtwar and 14 from Rajouri and Poonch districts. Doda SSP Abdul Qayoom said that out of 118 persons from the district who are based outside IIOJK, 10 are the most active and have been trying to motivate local youth to join the freedom struggle. “Two among them have been declared individual militants and two proclaimed offenders,” the SSP said.

In December, the property of one, Abdul Rashid was seized in Thathri area of Doda. The SSP said a list of properties of others had been sought from the Revenue Department, which too would be seized. It is worth mentioning that the Modi regime has already confiscated the head office of All Parties Hurriyat Conference in Srinagar and many properties and lands owned by Jamaat-e-Islami, its leaders and activists and other common people across IIOJK to punish them for their role and association with the struggle for securing their right to self-determination. The occupation authorities have also demolished many properties of the pro-freedom people to frighten them to the extent that they give up their just struggle.

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New Delhi, March 01, 2023 (PPI-OT): India recorded the warmest February this year since 1877 with average maximum temperatures touching 29.54 degrees Celsius, the weather office has said while linking it with global warming. Less rainfall, clear skies and persistent anti-cyclone conditions led to abnormal rise in the maximum temperature in February, Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) said. It said, the other possible reason for the rise in temperature was reduced frequency of western disturbances, which bring rain in February. The previous highest average temperature in February was recorded in 2016 when the mercury touched 29.48°C, it added.

It said most parts of the country are expected to experience above-normal temperatures while the southern peninsula and parts of Maharashtra are likely to escape the brunt of harsh weather conditions. Addressing a virtual press conference, S C Bhan, the Head of the Hydromet and Agromet Advisory Services of IMD said the monthly average maximum temperature for February was the highest since 1877 and linked the rising trend to the phenomenon of global warming. “The entire globe is living in an era of global warming. We are living in a warming world,” Bhan said when asked whether the high temperatures were an indication of climate change.

Northwest India, including Punjab, Haryana, and New Delhi, reeled under unusually above-normal maximum temperatures throughout the month, the IMD said. “Summer is likely to be hotter than the last year. Above normal maximum temperatures will be witnessed,” said an official of the weather office. The IMD said the probability of heat waves occurring from March to May was likely to increase over many regions of Central and northwest India. However, Punjab, Haryana and Delhi would not witness heat waves in March. But in subsequent months of April and May, the number of heat waves will rise in Punjab, Haryana and Delhi, it added.

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Islamabad, March 01, 2023 (PPI-OT): The All Parties Hurriyat Conference Azad Jammu and Kashmir (APHC-AJK) chapter has paid homage to the martyrs of Zakura and Tengpora massacres on their 33rd martyrdom anniversary, today. According to Kashmir Media Service, over 50 innocent people were martyred and dozens others injured when Indian troops opened fire on peaceful protesters in Zukoora and Tengpora areas of Srinagar in Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir on this day in 1990.

The APHC-AJK leaders at a meeting presided over by the Convener, Mehmood Ahmed Saghar, said the Kashmiri people will not allow the sacrifices of their martyrs to go waste. They said that it was due to these sacrifices that the Kashmir dispute was echoing in every forum of the world. The APHC-AJK leaders urged India to stop its state terrorism in IIOJK and settle the Kashmir dispute by giving the people of Jammu and Kashmir their right to self-determination as per the relevant UN resolutions for ensuring durable peace and prosperity in the region.

Special prayer was also offered for the martyrs of Jammu and Kashmir. Meanwhile, the Chairman of Pasban-e-Hurriyat Jammu and Kashmir, Uzair Ahmed Ghazali, in a statement issued in Muzaffarabad also paid homage to the martyrs of Zakora and Tengpura massacres. He deplored that despite the passage of three decades, the Indian terrorists involved in the mass killings have not been brought to book.

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Kashmir Media Service

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