FBR and tax-defiant political parties
Dr Ikramul Haq It is shocking that only two political parties filed income tax returns for tax year 2020 out of 27 registered with FBR and 127 with Election Commission of Pakistan despite section 114(1)(ac) of the Income Tax Ordinance,…
Littering: Our national character
Huzaima Bukhari “I see litter as part of a long continuum of anti-social behaviour”―Bill Bryson An interesting video came up on social groups where one strong person not only thrashed four boys sitting in a vehicle before his own in…
Civil governments, ‘Ordinance’ factories
Huzaima Bukhari & Dr. Ikramul Haq “Pakistan affirmed its commitment to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development by adopting the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as its own national development agenda through a unanimous National Assembly Resolution in 2016. Since then,…
Judges and accountability
Huzaima Bukhari & Dr. Ikramul Haq “The live coverage of court proceeding will not benefit me but the people of Pakistan. The live broadcast of court proceedings will expose some bad lawyers who do not come prepared. The live broadcast…
Elections, corruption & voters
Dr. Ikramul Haq “The usefulness and the mandate of….an elected body under the Constitution have been defeated by continuous and widespread corruption including misapplication of public funds and `horse-trading’, change of loyalties in violation of law by the holders of…
Recouping tax losses judiciously
Huzaima Bukhari & Dr. Ikramul Haq “Judicial overreach is when the judiciary starts interfering with the proper functioning of the legislative or executive organs of the government. This is totally uncharacteristic of the role of the judiciary envisaged under the…
FATF: FBR’s challenges
Dr. Ikramul Haq In June 2021, Pakistan is going to face yet another review of its remaining compliance of three action items, out of total 27 under anti-money laundering and combatting financing of terrorism [AML-CFT] mandates agreed with Financial Action…
Variety is spice of life
Huzaima Bukhari “The essence of the beautiful is unity in variety”― Felix Mendelssohn If the whole world were to follow the same lifestyle—same language, same clothes, same food, same mannerism, same outlook, same culture—how morbid and mundane it would all…
fatf grey listing caused ‘$38b losses’: myth or reality
Huzaima Bukhari, Dr. Ikramul Haq & Abdul Rauf Shakoori As a result of the recently concluded meeting of FATF in February 2021, Pakistan is destined to remain in the list of jurisdictions with increased monitoring (also known as the Grey…