Inadequate energy supply, alleged intimidation from the government functionaries, overlapped tax liabilities and the increasing cost of production have severely affected the country’s industrial sector. Reports suggest that the share of industrial sector has declined to 20.50 percent of the gross domestic product from around 25 percent in one hand half decades ago. The industrial performance lays the base for economic development of a country, but the entrepreneurs have always remained under pressure in Pakistan. The functionaries from most of the government agencies find the business owners as soft targets to give them a dose of their corrupt mind. When the other countries in the region are expanding their industrial base, the Pakistani industrial sector is going on the reverse gear. The worst part of the situation is that the industrialists are shifting their businesses to other countries and the government has no plan to stop them.
Whenever the government announce an economic policy, the business community is the first casualty. There is extreme level of trust deficit between the government and the individuals in the country. When every individual is suspect in the eyes of the government officials, no one will be able to stop the situation from going bad to worse. The businessmen are prosecuted and persecuted on the pretext of tax evasion, affecting the entire business community. How a businessman will pay the government dues when he is thrown into jail like an ordinary criminal. The government must come up with the law to ensure respect for the investors and protection of not only their life and property but also dignity. The government should devise a mechanism to make the business community fulfill its tax liabilities. The prosecution of the entrepreneurs is not an answer to the alleged tax evasions. If some in the business community are tax evaders, some of the government functionaries lead a luxurious life beyond their known sources of income and the government must investigate how they make it possible.
Pakistan is still in the list of the most corrupt countries in the world even then the government wants to implement its policies by giving more powers to the government functionaries. The political leadership must come up with a law to end intimidation of the business community and persuade them to narrow trust deficit. A lot of Pakistanis have stashed their money in foreign banks and they are not ready to bring it back. The imposition of withholding tax on bank transactions has already pushed the banking industry in a crisis zone and recent changes in the land rules has destroyed the real estate sector. Those who matter must think and rethink why their policies prove disastrous for the economy rather than doing any good to it. The government must develop investor-friendly culture to bring prosperity among its peoples.
