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High Court to rule Aug 5 on appeal over blogger’s acquittal in YouTube posts involving ex-PM Ismail Sabri, Umno
KUALA LUMPUR, June 8— The High Court here today fixed August 5 to rule on the prosecution’s appeal against t...
"ISMAIL" · 총 44건
필터 보기현재 지수
50.3
0 = 부정 우세
50 = 중립
100 = 긍정 우세
최근 7일 기준 88,352건을 분석한 결과, 뉴스 심리지수는 50.2(균형)입니다. 긍정 4,528건(5.1%)·중립 81,622건(92.4%)·부정 2,202건(2.5%)이며, 중립 비중이 뚜렷하게 높습니다. 성향 지수는 종합 15.3(중도 균형)입니다.
KUALA LUMPUR, June 8— The High Court here today fixed August 5 to rule on the prosecution’s appeal against t...
PH secretary-general Saifuddin Nasution Ismail says the seat allocations were finalised during a recent secretariat meeting.
PUTRAJAYA, June 8 — Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said the Cabinet has directed enforcement a...
PUTRAJAYA, June 8 — Pakatan Harapan (PH) secretary-general Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail today said the coa...
The government will market its new “small trader scheme” as an effort to bring retailers into the tax net and generate Rs50 billion annually. A cursory look would, however, reveal that it is less a tax reform initiative and more a negotiated settlement with one of Pakistan’s most under-taxed yet politically influential constituencies. The scheme offers traders with annual sales of up to Rs200 million a simplified one per cent turnover tax on a voluntary basis. Participants will face minimal compliance requirements and will be exempt from audits, point-of-sale systems, digital invoicing and most forms of scrutiny. Existing non-filers can join under certain conditions. The government insists this is not a tax amnesty. But exempting traders from the very documentation tools — POS [point-of-sale] systems, digital invoicing — that the state claims to be expanding elsewhere makes that position hard to sustain. If the purpose is to integrate retailers into the documented economy, the scheme does the opposite. It risks entrenching the cash-based practices that have long kept retail trade outside the tax net. This follows a familiar pattern. Whenever governments attempt to broaden the tax base, trader resistance produces a compromise — a concessionary regime that falls short of genuine documentation. The Tajir Dost Scheme, introduced last year, largely failed; at one point, only a few dozen traders had reportedly joined. The new scheme is a variation of the same scheme, not a more effective alternative. The OICCI notes that the corporate sector, representing only 6pc of GDP, accounts for nearly 60-70pc of direct tax revenues, while retailers remain under taxed The scale of what is being forgone deserves emphasis. Pakistan’s retail sector is estimated to generate annual turnover in the range of Rs10 to Rs15 trillion, yet its contribution to direct tax revenues remains negligible. The Overseas Investors Chamber of Commerce & Industry’s (OICCI) tax proposal submissions to the government note that the corporate sector, representing only 6pc of GDP, accounts for nearly 60-70pc of direct tax revenues. That concentration is not a sign of corporate wealth; it is a sign of how narrow and distorted the tax base has become. The Rs50bn target attached to this scheme, even if met, would represent a fraction of what full compliance at standard rates could theoretically yield. Every scheme that keeps retailers outside the documented economy worsens that distortion. The contrast with salaried workers and corporations is too obvious. Formal-sector employees have taxes deducted automatically at source and face progressive rates that rise sharply with income. Corporations bear some of the highest effective tax rates in the region and must meet extensive reporting requirements. The OICCI has calculated that the effective burden on large corporates, once super tax, Workers Welfare Fund and Workers Profit Participation Fund contributions are included, reaches 45-46pc. For resident shareholders, the combined burden approaches 64pc, figures that place Pakistan among the most heavily taxed corporate jurisdictions in the region. A retailer turning over hundreds of millions of rupees, meanwhile, can now settle tax liabilities through a preferential regime while avoiding audits and documentation that other taxpayers cannot escape. This is not an equitable distribution of the tax burden; it is a distortion that the scheme deepens. That this sector continues to shoulder such rates while retailers negotiate preferential arrangements is the predictable result of repeatedly choosing accommodation over enforcement. The International Monetary Fund (IMF), whose conditions explicitly include broadening the tax base and reducing reliance on withholding taxes from a narrow set of documented taxpayers, has flagged the retail and wholesale sectors as critically under-taxed. Whether this scheme satisfies or contradicts its commitments with the fund is a question the government is unlikely to answer publicly, and one the IMF is unlikely to ignore when the next review comes around. The OICCI, representing the largest foreign investors operating in Pakistan, has explicitly called for all future tax exemptions and preferential treatments to pass through a transparent policy review mechanism under the proposed Tax Policy Office. The small trader scheme announced without any such review is precisely the kind of ad hoc concession that the body was designed to prevent. That the government bypassed this process, which it has itself committed to operationalising, raises questions about whether the Tax Policy Office will have any real authority or will simply be overridden whenever political costs become inconvenient. The political logic is straightforward. Traders are an important constituency for the ruling PML-N in urban Punjab. They are well-organised and capable of mobilising quickly. Mandatory documentation, digital invoicing and strict enforcement would carry real political costs. A voluntary, audit-free arrangement does not. The political costs of confronting traders are not hypothetical. When the government attempted to impose a minimum tax of Rs3,000 per shop in FY23, the then finance minister Miftah Ismail was publicly rebuked — not by the opposition, but by PML-N leader Maryam Nawaz Sharif. The message to traders, and to any future finance minister contemplating enforcement, was unambiguous. But that calculation has consequences: every concession granted to retailers increases pressure on sectors that are already fully documented and easy to tax. Revenue collection alone is not the benchmark for sound tax policy. Effective reform must broaden the tax base, improve documentation and distribute the burden more fairly. On those standards, the Fixed Tax Asaan Scheme fails. A credible alternative roadmap is not difficult to design. The tools and the blueprint are available. The OICCI, in its taxation proposals, has outlined one: a two-year programme to bring unregistered businesses into the tax net through digitisation, integration of existing databases and expansion of digital invoicing. That this framework has been formally submitted to the government and set aside in favour of a voluntary, audit-free scheme is telling. The OICCI has warned that the continued concentration of tax burden on the formal sector has already contributed to multinational companies scaling down operations or exiting Pakistan altogether. A tax policy that drives out documented, compliant investors while offering relief to undocumented ones does not just fail on fairness grounds; it actively undermines the investment base the country needs to grow its way out of fiscal stress. Published in Dawn, The Business and Finance Weekly, June 8th, 2026
PUTRAJAYA, June 8 — Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said existing stocks of Malaysian passports...
KUALA LUMPUR, June 8 — Political activist Mohd Hisyamuddin Ghazali, better known as Syam Ghaz, has been appointed...
KUALA LUMPUR, June 8 — Political activist Mohd Hisyamuddin Ghazali, better known as Syam Ghaz, has been appointed...
Menteri Komunikasi Fahmi Fadzil turut maklumkan Ismail Yusop akan diberi tugas baharu di Pejabat Perdana Menteri.
Hisyamuddin Ghazali, a former special duties officer to home minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail, takes over from Ismail Yusop.
Security personnel stand guard outside a hospital in Dera Ismail Khan, KP. — Reuters/File Security forces have killed 27 India-backed Fitna al-Khawarij terrorists in the Miran Shah area of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's North Waziristan district over the past 72 hours, the Inter-Services...
KUALA LUMPUR, June 7 — Department of Community Communications (J-Kom) Director-General Datuk Ismail Yusop has anno...
Ismail Yusop mengesahkan tempoh perkhidmatannya berakhir hari ini dan berkata beliau telah diberi peranan baharu.
Ismail Yusop confirms his tenure ends today and says he has been assigned to a new role.
Setiausaha Agung PH Saifuddin Nasution Ismail berkata proses itu berjaya dicapai hasil rundingan libat pimpinan Amanah, PKR dan DAP.
PH secretary-general Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said the process was successfully concluded today following negotiations involving the leaders of Amanah, PKR and DAP.
The Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) has issued a heatwave warning for various parts of the country from June 7 to June 12. In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the districts of Peshawar, Mardan, Bannu, Karak, Lakki Marwat and Dera Ismail Khan are expected to record maximum temperatures four to six degrees Celsius above normal, ranging between 41°C and 46°C from June 8 to 11. Temperatures are expected to rise to 37°C-40°C in KP’s northern districts of Chitral, Dir and Swat, as well as in Gilgit-Baltistan, from June 8 to 10. In Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Attock, Chakwal, Jhelum, Gujrat, Mirpur, Bhimber, Kotli, Bagh and Muzaffarabad, maximum temperatures are expected to range between 41°C and 44°C from June 8 to 10. From June 8 to 11, temperatures are expected to range between 44°C and 48°C in Punjab’s Lahore, Okara, Kasur, Faisalabad, Sargodha, Joharabad, Khushab, Mianwali, Noorpur Thal, Jhang, Toba Tek Singh, Sahiwal, Dera Ghazi Khan, Multan, Khanewal, Pakpattan, Rahim Yar Khan, Rajanpur, Bahawalpur, Bahawalnagar, Bhakkar, Layyah and Kot Addu areas. In Sindh, maximum temperatures are likely to remain four to six degrees Celsius above normal in Sukkur, Shikarpur, Qambar Shahdadkot, Jacobabad, Larkana, Mohenjo Daro, Dadu, Shaheed Benazirabad, Ghotki, Khairpur, Naushahro Feroze, Sibi, Turbat and Panjgur districts, with temperatures expected to range between 48°C and 51°C from June 7 to 12, added PMD. Furthermore, in Karachi, the maximum temperature is expected to rise to 40°C - 43°C from June 8 to 12. “Night temperatures are also likely to rise during the forecast period,” the PMD advisory stated. The PMD has also warned of dust storms in south Punjab and Sindh due to the heat. The advisory also asked the general public, especially children, women and senior citizens, to exercise caution during the hearwave. “Farmers are advised to manage their crop activities in view of the prevailing weather conditions and take care of their livestock as well,” the advisory stated. The PMD advised avoiding unnecessary exposure to direct sunlight from 10am to 4pm, adding that electricity demand and consumption may also increase during the forecast period.
This cosy stall is one of Pasar Besar Taman Tun Dr Ismail’s loveliest surprises, inviting customers to slow down and unwind.
Performers stage the musical theater production "Suwidak Loro" at Taman Ismail Marzuki (TIM) in Cikini, ...
DERA ISMAIL KHAN: Inquiry reports have identified hundreds of suspicious degrees and questionable financial transactions in a major scandal involving alleged fake degrees, financial irregularities and embezzlement of public funds at Gomal University, it emerged on Thursday. According to official documents and inquiry reports seen by Dawn, the investigation was initiated on the directives of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Minister for Higher Education, Archives and Libraries Meena Khan Afridi as part of efforts to eliminate corruption and ensure transparency in higher education institutions across the province. The university administration constituted an inquiry committee on April 23, 2026, to examine affiliation accounts and financial records related to private affiliated colleges. The committee reportedly found evidence suggesting that some deposit slips appeared suspicious or forged, while in certain cases, university dues had been deposited into accounts other than the authorised university accounts. The inquiry report further stated that the university had suffered financial losses as a result of irregular transactions and recommended further investigation into the role of individuals linked to the matter. One of the most significant findings of the preliminary inquiry relates to allegedly suspicious degrees issued through affiliated private colleges. According to university records reviewed during the investigation, a total of 514 degrees were declared suspicious. The report identified 153 degrees issued through Punjab College of Elegance, Jauharabad, and 361 degrees issued through Chenab College of Advanced Studies, Faisalabad, as suspicious and recommended that they be cancelled. It further stated that 20 students of Thal Institute of Modern Education, Layyah, were found to have received degrees despite having no enrolment record in the university’s database. Following the inquiry, key decisions were taken during the 143rd meeting of the university syndicate. An official order issued on May 23, 2026, suspended former director of affiliation Dr Muhammad Saqib Khan over allegations of corruption, financial irregularities and embezzlement of funds, and directed him to proceed on 90 days’ forced leave. According to the university administration, investigations were also continuing against former controller of examinations and current additional controller of examinations Muhammad Waseem Khan. The inquiry committee recommended a comprehensive forensic audit of the Affiliation Section, Finance Directorate, Examination Department, Financial Aid Office and other relevant offices to determine the exact scale of the alleged financial losses and identify those responsible. Following the preliminary findings, the university administration constituted a new empowered inquiry committee and directed it to submit a comprehensive report within 30 days. When contacted by Dawn, Gomal University Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Muhammad Zafar Iqbal confirmed the inquiry report and said the investigations were being conducted in a transparent manner. He said strict action would be taken against any individual found responsible, in accordance with the law and university regulations.