HYDERABAD: Leaders of political parties and civil society organisations have rejected the National Finance Commission award formula based only on population and demanded that the issue of provincial autonomy be resolved before announcing the award.

They said that without Sindh getting control over its resources, problems would keep cropping up in the NFC. They were speaking at a consultative workshop on ‘Upcoming NFC award’ organised by ‘We Journalists,’ an organisation of journalists, at the press club here on Sunday.

Former PPP Senator Taj Haider said political leaders and activists should continue to raise issues and make demands in order to get what was their due.

Relying on figures compiled by Sindh’s non-statutory member on the NFC Dr Qiaser Bengali, Mr Haider said that the province had suffered losses of Rs193 billion over the past five years in sales tax on utilities like electricity, gas and telephone and the amount was increasing.

‘We should demand restoration of octroi and zila tax that was abolished through an ordinance by the last Pakistan Muslim League-N government.’ He said that Sindh collected 46 per cent of the country’s taxes.

He expressed the hope that the constitutional reforms committee, headed by Raza Rabbani, would recommend a suitable package. He, however, expressed apprehensions that sales tax might be reintroduced by the federal government in the shape of value added tax, and said that some indications had been made in this regard.

‘We should be aware of such googlies of Murali Dharan and Shane Warne because we can’t trust those who have been robbing us,’ he said.

He said that the Pakistan People’s Party had floated the draft of the18th amendment which specifically addressed the issues of the NFC and Council of Common Interests.

He said that Sindh’s population was 27 to 28 per cent of the country’s population, but it was not taken into consideration.

Barrister Zamir Ghumro gave a detailed presentation on NFC award on the basis of a resolution tabled by Muttahida Qaumi Movement’s Sardar Ahmed in Sindh Assembly in 2003.

He opposed inclusion of provincial taxes in the terms of reference of the NFC award and said that the Article 160 of the Constitution envisaged only vertical distribution between the federal government and provinces. But, he said, the NFC had ignored constitutional provisions by taking up horizontal distribution leading to disputes among provinces.

He said that the terms of multiple criteria, divisible pool and consensus had been devised to rob Sindh of its tax revenue. These terms, he added, had no place in the constitution.

He said that under Article 143 of the Constitution, GST on services was a residual subject of provinces and provinces must start recovering it.

He said that the PML-N government had unlawfully abolished octroi tax, promising to distribute a certain percentage of GST on the basis of recovery from each province. He said that Sindh’s calculation was 46 per cent but it was getting 34 per cent.

He urged democratic forces to jointly oppose NFC proceedings which, according to him, were aimed at overstepping the constitutional mandate and usurping tax and non-tax resources of smaller provinces in the name of consensus.

He said that the Sindh Assembly’s resolution of 2003 called upon the federal government to maintain separate accounts of taxes of each province but it had a single account of each tax.

He predicted that on the basis of conservative estimates of this year’s tax revenue, Sindh would lose more than Rs10,000 billion over five years if the NFC award on the basis of horizontal distribution and multiple criteria was accepted by the Sindh government.

Awami Tehrik chief Rasool Bux Palijo called for fixing priorities regardless of what Sindh was getting in the NFC award. He said: ‘You may take these paisas but what about the question of ownership of resources.’

Sindh Taraqi Pasand Party leader Dr Qadir Magsi raised the issue of provincial autonomy and control over resources of Sindh. He said that any demand on the basis of constitution which had not been able to protect itself would be an exercise in futility.

He said that the federal finance minister himself had claimed a recovery of Rs2000 billion from Sindh, the amount collected after corruption and maladministration.

He emphasised the need for studying the case of Sindh from new angles. He termed the present exercise in the NFC as a photo session.

The Sindh Democratic Forum’s Abrar Kazi said that resources of the province were being transferred to other provinces.

Summing up the discussion, Sindh United Party’s Jalal Mehmood Shah said that any NFC award based on only population stood rejected. He said that provinces should get GST on services and the award formula should be based on 70:30 ratio.

He criticised President Asif Zardari’s decision to include royalty on oil and gas in the award and said that it was an issue pertaining to the CCI. He said that NFC proceedings were initiated to skip the question of provincial autonomy.

Shah Mohammad Shah, SNF leader Ayub Shar, Amir Bhambhro of Sindh National Party, Nazeer Memon, Javed Qazi, Amar Sindhu, Karamat Ali and others also took part in the discussion.