Press Release
Reject the Colonialist National Budget that Squeezes Us and Our Armed Forces to Protect Foreign and Local Creditors and their Capital

The mounting fear over budget revelations over taxation and cuts were proved valid much to the dismay of the long suffering Muslims of Pakistan. After the staff-level agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the Minister for Revenue, Hammad Azhar, announced a budget on 11 June 2019 that both crushes Pakistan’s economy with oppressive taxation and compromises funding of Pakistan’s armed forces, whilst ensuring that Pakistan squeezes its sides in order to pay back interest based debt. At a time when the economy has already slowed down due to the choking effects of heavy taxation, the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has a tax target of 5,500 billion rupees for the year 2019-2020, which is a massive 35% increase in tax collection. At a time that the Hindu State has increased in hostility under Modi, the defense budget is being kept static at Rs. 1,150 billion rupees, despite the huge inflation as a result of weakening of the Rupee, which effectively means a cut. Thus, the regime is squeezing the people and their armed forces, so that the country can be bled by approximately 3,000 billion rupees to pay interest on debt, even though Riba (interest) invites a declaration of war from Allah (swt) and His Messenger (saaw). Pakistan is being squeezed and bled in order to secure the approval of IMF for release of yet more interest-based loans.

O Muslims of Pakistan!

Is there anything left for us to see to know there is no hope in the current colonialist economic system? Is it not time that we ended the vicious cycle of destruction of Pakistan’s economy, by restoring the ruling by all that Allah (swt) has revealed? It is our Khilafah (Caliphate) that will end oppressive capitalist taxation such as general sales tax, which does not even spare the poor and the needy, even though they are the ones upon whom not even Zakah is due and are instead deserving of Zakah. It is our Khilafah that will ensure revenues from the financially capable, such as Zakah from the one who owns trading merchandise and Kharaj from the one who owns agricultural land. So as not to compromise on essentials such as health, education and military spending, our Khilafah will ensure plentiful revenues for the state by its dominance of the capital intensive industries, such as large scale manufacturing, for the Sunnah of RasulAllah (saaw) established the ‘Inaan, Abdaan and Mudarabah company structures that naturally limit the scale of capital available to the private sector. It is our Khilafah that will ensure that the revenue generated from the energy sector and minerals is spent upon the entire public, rather than benefiting a few through privatization, for RasulAllah (saaw) mandated that they are public property. And it is our Khilafah which will reject the sin of interest based debt, whether in the form of foreign loans or domestic treasury bonds. So for success in this life and the next, let the Muslims strive! Allah (swt) said,

[يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا اسْتَجِيبُوا لِلَّهِ وَلِلرَّسُولِ إِذَا دَعَاكُمْ لِمَا يُحْيِيكُمْ]

“O you who have believed, respond to Allah and to the Messenger when he calls you to that which gives you life.” [Al-Anfal: 24]

Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir
in Wilayah Pakistan