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Senate opposes tax on incoming international calls

* MQM stages walkout; calls it a form of extortion

* Senator Rabbani says regulators, big companies involved in cartelisation

By Ijaz Kakakhel

ISLAMABAD: The Muttahida Qaumi Movement on Friday staged a walkout from the Senate over imposition of tax on incoming international calls while other parties in the House called for its withdrawal.

Terming the tax on overseas calls injustice with Pakistanis residing abroad, the MQM demanded its immediate withdrawal. Presenting a call attention notice over the issue, MQM’s Senator Tahir Hussain Mashhadi said the increased tax was a form of extortion and that his party would continue the walkout until it was withdrawn. He claimed the decision was taken to please some influential companies providing Long Distance and International (LDI) call services.

The decision, he said, was taken by the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) when some LDI providers convinced the authority. They later got approval from the Ministry of Information Technology. Mashhadi said increased incoming international call rates would make it hard for expatriate Pakistanis to talk to their families and relatives in Pakistan. He said that the LDI providers were defaulters of billions of rupees to the government, but despite this the latter had decided to burden the poor expatriates.

During the Upper House session on Friday, a call attention notice was presented on the increase in tax on incoming international calls. Speaking on the notice, Senator Raza Rabbani said the tax was implemented with the collusion of the LDI operators and the regulatory authority, and it was part of a conspiracy to save billions in payments. He urged immediate withdrawal of the levy.

“The world is moving towards free phone calling, while Pakistan is enhancing the rates; it is regrettable,” he remarked. The senator said all the regulators, including OGRA, NEPRA and PTA, were involved in cartelisation in collusion with big companies and worked for the interests of these companies at the expense of consumers.

Speaking during the session, Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid’s Senator Kamil Ali Agha said that remittances by overseas Pakistanis had already dropped by 10 percent, and the tax on incoming international calls would lead to a further decrease in remittances, which are backbone of the Pakistan economy.

Leader of House, Senator Jahangir Badar said the new tax was imposed by the Ministry of Information Technology after obtaining approval from the prime minister. He said it would curtail grey trafficking in the telecom sector and would also bring in revenue of $500 million every month. Main purpose of the imposition of the tax was to bring parity in call rates, he claimed.

Leader of Opposition in Senate Ishaq Dar said the leader of House, who represents the prime minister, agreed with the call-attention mover, which meant that there was no clash on the issue and the tax should be withdrawn. However, if the House wants to deliberate on the process of withdrawal or motive behind the imposition of the new tax, the matter could be referred to the relevant standing committee. The Senate’s session was adjourned until 5pm Monday.

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