Islamabad (Zahid Yaqoob Khawaja): A nationwide public awareness campaign titled \u201cBehtareen Pakistan\u201d has been launched by civil society groups, traders and stakeholders against illegal cigarette trade, tax evasion and smuggling in Pakistan. The campaign claims that the country is suffering an annual loss of nearly $1 billion (apprx Rs.300 billion) due to the unchecked sale of illegal cigarettes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to the campaign\u2019s documented findings, more than 455 cigarette brands are currently being sold openly across Pakistan without track and trace tax stamps while 355 brands are bring sold without Governments of Pakistan’s approved health warning. These illegal brands are completely outside the Federal Board of Revenue\u2019s tax net. These brands allegedly avoid payment of Federal Excise Duty, General Sales Tax, causing heavy losses to the national exchequer and creating unfair competition for tax-compliant companies.
Sources said that despite the government\u2019s mandatory Track and Trace System, a large number of cigarette packs available in the market either carry no official tax stamp or use fake stamps, indicating the presence of an organized tax evasion network. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sources close to \u201cBehtareen Pakistan\u201d campaign stated that the digital tracking system was introduced to monitor cigarette production and supply chains, ensuring proper tax collection and transparency. However, weak enforcement has allowed illegal operators to continue functioning openly. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The campaign\u2019s main slogan,
\u201cNo Stamp. No Taxes. Pakistan Pays the Price,\u201d has gained significant attention on social media and among public circles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Economic experts warned that the illegal cigarette trade is not only linked to tax evasion but may also contribute to money laundering and organized crime, raising serious concerns for both the economy and national security.
The campaign is rapidly gaining momentum online under the hashtags #AbKhasaraNahinGawara and #StopTaxEvaders, with citizens and business groups demanding immediate action against illegal cigarette factories, warehouses and smuggling networks. They have also called for strict enforcement of the Track and Trace System and stronger border controls to prevent the inflow of smuggled and non-duty-paid cigarettes.
Analysts believe that amid Pakistan\u2019s ongoing economic challenges and IMF-related fiscal pressures, the country can no longer afford such large-scale revenue leakage. They say effective implementation of reforms in the tobacco sector alone could significantly improve government revenues and reduce the fiscal deficit.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Islamabad (Zahid Yaqoob Khawaja): A nationwide public awareness campaign titled \u201cBehtareen Pakistan\u201d has been launched by civil society groups, traders and stakeholders against illegal cigarette trade, tax evasion and smuggling in Pakistan. The campaign claims that the country is suffering an annual loss of nearly $1 billion (apprx Rs.300 billion) due to the unchecked sale<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8021,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33,34,36,32,31,35],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-8015","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"category-entertainment","9":"category-health","10":"category-international","11":"category-national","12":"category-science-tech"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/capitalnewspk.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8015","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/capitalnewspk.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/capitalnewspk.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capitalnewspk.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capitalnewspk.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8015"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/capitalnewspk.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8015\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8022,"href":"https:\/\/capitalnewspk.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8015\/revisions\/8022"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capitalnewspk.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8021"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/capitalnewspk.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8015"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capitalnewspk.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8015"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capitalnewspk.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8015"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}