Imran Khan asks Pakistanis to declare their assets

Agencies
June 10, 2019

Islamabad, Jun 10: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Monday asked Pakistanis to take advantage of the tax amnesty scheme and declare their undisclosed assets by June 30 to contribute in the development of the country which is grappling with a severe financial crunch.

Addressing the nation ahead of the federal budget for the fiscal year 2019-20 to be announced Tuesday, Khan said. "We will need to change ourselves if we want to become a great country."

"I am appealing to all of you to take part in the Asset Declaration Scheme that we have brought, because if we don't pay taxes, we will not be able to raise our country up," Khan said.

The premier said that people have until June 30 to declare their benami assets, benami bank accounts and money that was kept abroad.

Benami is a term used for a transaction, contract, or property that is made or held under a name that is fictitious or is that of a third party who holds as ostensible owner for the principal or beneficial owner.

"After June 30, you will not get this opportunity," he said.

"Our agencies have information about who has benami accounts and benami properties," the premier said.

"This was never available to us before therefore take advantage of this scheme. Give Pakistan the benefit. Fix your children's future. [Give us] the chance that we get this country to stand on its own two feet and take people out of poverty," he said.

"My Pakistanis, in the past ten years Pakistan's debt went from Rs 6,000 billion to Rs 30,000 billion," he said.

Khan said that the damage that this had caused to the country was that the annual tax collected was approximately Rs 4,000 billion, half of which went towards repaying loans "they" had taken.

"This country cannot cover its expenses on the money that is left behind," he added.

"Pakistan is the country that unfortunately gives the least tax in the world but is among the few countries that give the most charity."

"This is the country that has [the] capability and if passion comes in, we can at the very least gather Rs10,000 billion every year," the premier said.

In May, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government had announced its first tax amnesty scheme — Asset Declaration Scheme — for whitening of undisclosed expenditures, sales and assets, including foreign assets, at nominal tax rates.

The scheme came into effect through a presidential ordinance, which will offer a period of 45 days to people for declaration of their undeclared assets, expenditures, and sales along with payment of taxes until June 30 this year.

The scheme, approved by the federal Cabinet during a meeting presided over by the premier, has five main pillars — scope, default surcharge, exclusions, tax rates and conditions.

Unlike the past schemes, no revenue realisation projection was made on the plea that it is meant for allowing the grey economy’s inclusion in the tax net, Dawn newspaper said.

The government plans to present an austerity-oriented budget with no increase in the salaries of army officials of higher ranks.

This is the second time that the premier has appealed to the people to declare their benami assets and bank accounts under the government's Assets Declaration Scheme by June 30.

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News Network
June 24,2020

Jun 24: The coronavirus tally in Pakistan reached 188,926 with the detection of 3,892 new cases in the last 24 hours, the health ministry said on Wednesday.

Sixty more people died due to the viral infection, taking the death toll to 3,755.

As many as 3,337 patients are in critical condition across the country, the ministry said.

With the detection of 3,892 new cases in the last 24 hours, the coronavirus tally in the country now stands at 188,926, it said.

Sindh reported the maximum number of 72,656 cases, followed by 69,536 in Punjab, 23,388 in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, 11,483 in Islamabad, 9,634 in Balochistan, 1,337 in Gilgit-Baltistan and 892 in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (Pok).

Health authorities have so far conducted 1,150,141 coronavirus tests, including 23,380 in the last 24 hours.

A total of 77,754 patients have recovered so far from the disease.

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Agencies
June 16,2020

China on Tuesday justified the killing of an army officer and two soldiers of India and accused Indian troops of crossing a disputed border between the two countries.

Foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said Indian troops crossed the border line twice on Monday, "provoking and attacking Chinese personnel, resulting in a serious physical confrontation between border forces on the two sides".

An Indian Army officer and two soldiers have been killed in a "violent face-off" with Chinese troops along the Line of Actual Control (LAC), disrupting the fragile peace talks.

"During the de-escalation process underway in the Galwan Valley, a violent face-off took place last night with casualties on both sides," the Indian Army said in a statement.
 

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News Network
April 24,2020

Washington, Apr 24: The number of coronavirus cases in the US has surpassed 850,000, Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center data revealed on Thursday (local time).
The country now has registered 8,56,209 cases overall, according to the data, including 47,272 deaths.

The US currently leads the world in the number of reported COVID-19 deaths and confirmed cases.

There are more than 2.6 million COVID-19 cases around the world and more than 1,85,000 deaths, according to the data.

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