LOWER DIR: Speakers at a protest rally staged against the government’s decision to impose taxes in Malakand division on Sunday warned to cut the region from rest of the country if the decision was not reversed.

Jamaat-i-Islami organised the protest sit-in at the Chakdara Interchange of Swat Motorway.

Traffic from one side on the motorway was diverted on a service road for about three hours.

JI provincial deputy chief Inayatullah Khan, former MNAs Maulana Abdul Akbar Chitrali, Sahibzada Tariqullah, president Anjuman-i-Tajiran Swat Abdur Rahim, and others addressed the rally, and warned the government against imposed taxes in a region already wracked by militancy and natural disasters.

The speakers said all political parties, trade unions, civil society, students and legal fraternity were on the same page on the matter. They insisted Malakand division was a tax-free zone, and imposing taxes was illegal and unconstitutional.

On the occasion, Mr Inayatullah announced to call a jirga and a multiparty conference if the government went ahead with its plan.

Published in Dawn, June 3rd, 2024