Babar Bhatti

After many years of growth and foreign investment, Pakistan’s telecom industry has become one of the major contributors to Pakistan’s economy. Telecom industry pays taxes to the government in the form of GST/CED, Activation tax (Rs. 500 per activation), withholding tax (CBR collects withholding tax on prepaid calling cards), regulatory fee and Universal Service Fund contributions and duties. In addition to these taxes to the Federal Government, local governments and civic authorities also tax the sector.

Now we hear that a tax may – or may not – also be imposed on every SMS message sent. Is this fair? Is this just about revenue or is there more to this? Is it really happening, or not?

Owais Mughal
Update: VIDEO highlights added to the post

Pakistan has beaten Sri Lanka by 8 wickets to become the World Champions of T20 Cricket. Hard work of 14 and prayers of millions have paid off. Congratulations to all our readers and Pakistan zindabad. News channels are now full of reports of showing thousands of Pakistanis pouring into streets and celebrating like never before.

For the past hour or so, I’ve been reading different articles appearing at several cricket sites and to me following paragraph from Cricinfo’s Dileep Premachandran says it all:

Remember that this is the team that has no home series to look forward to in the foreseeable future, the country that had the ICC Champions Trophy taken away from it and given to South Africa. These are the players who were prevented from playing in the IPL, and the same side that was annihilated by South Africa and India in warm-up matches. But less than three weeks on, they are champions of the world.

Adil NajamToday, June 20, is World Refugee Day. In most years, most of us may not have thought much about it. This year, we cannot afford to ignore it.

Hollywood power-couple Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, who are also UNHCR goodwill ambassadors and longtime friends of humanitarian causes worldwide, including in Pakistan, just announced a US$ 1 million donation to assist displaced Pakistanis.

As Pakistanis we thank them for this generous gesture. As Pakistanis let us also view this as a reminder of our own responsibilities to reach out to and assist our own.