“Things have changed, and things have gotten better over time, but still for women it is a huge struggle to sustain in this field. We have to constantly prove and fight for ourselves. Comparatively it is easier for men to make space in the industry. https://t.co/cIYw3ndQbP
7/
Pakistan does not lack taxpayers.
It lacks trust.
It lacks fairness.
It lacks the courage to tax privilege with the same efficiency with which it taxes petrol, electricity, and salaries.
Until that changes, every budget will feel like punishment.
6/
Real reform begins with a simple principle:
Those with the greatest ability to pay must carry a fair share of the burden.
Not the loudest and not the most convenient share.
A fair share.
5/
Tax reform cannot simply mean “raise more revenue.”
From whom?
Through what?
At what social cost?
A country cannot keep increasing taxes on consumption and then pretend it is reforming the economy.
That is not reform.
That is extraction.
4/
A fair tax system should reward documentation.
Ours often punishes it.
The honest taxpayer is audited, squeezed, and surcharged.
The undocumented operator is negotiated with.
That is how you destroy the incentive to become documented.
3/
Meanwhile, large parts of wealth remain lightly touched.
Real estate speculation. Undocumented trade. Under-reported retail. Agricultural income above meaningful thresholds. Elite exemptions. Loss-making state enterprises.
These are not mysteries.
They are political choices, made against the weak. So weakness is a problem.
2/
The documented business pays because it is visible.
The salaried person pays before the salary reaches his account.
The consumer pays on electricity, petrol, mobile phones, food, and daily essentials.
In Pakistan, visibility has become a liability.
Pakistan’s taxation crisis is a trust issue:
Visibility has become a liability.
Weakness is invitation for exploitation.
Documentation is punished.
Raising more revenue has become extraction.
Let's break it down:
Pakistanis are not tired because they lack hope.
They are tired because every few years they are asked to sacrifice again while the elite remain untouched.
A nation cannot keep taxing the patience of its people and call it reform.
Talks failed but history will remember the lengths Pakistan went to, to get it settled peacefully. We have punched miles above our weight & gave the world a glimmer of hope against all odds. We were the only avenue that gave hope to millions & millions of mothers & children who dreaded destruction. Proud of our diplomats. We know it’s a good news for a specific faction of anarchists in Pakistan but then again, until they get hold of affairs, let’s cherish what we did in the last two weeks for peace. Congratulations, Pakistan. And good luck to the world !!
So many women in their 30s and 40s have this great awakening.
They start becoming a different person: less apologetic, more themselves, and not afraid to take up space.
That is because, irrespective of where you grow up as a little girl, once you hit puberty (& for some cease to remain a child), the world starts teaching you how to shrink yourself, how to tame yourself, and how to become a smaller version of you.
Lots of women spend their teenage years and 20s being this way - people-pleasing, smaller than who they are, apologetic, doing things because they’ve been told to.
Then at some point some of them reclaim themselves. People feel they changed but the reality is they did not change - they just learnt how to become their true self again!
We, pakistanis, have a tough life. We stay up to follow up war and work in the morning so we can make enough money to have a good Internet connection so we can follow up a war at night.
Three years ago today, June 4, 2022, we won our first media grant and laid the foundation for #TheCitizenry.
A platform designed to mainstream policy and legislative issues, taking journalism in Pakistan beyond political noise and towards meaningful change.
If you still think Pakistan was behind the Pahalgam and Amritsar attacks, you’re either blind or brainwashed. Pakistan would never target Kashmiris or Sikhs, these are Modi’s dirty games, staged to win votes and fuel hate. The blood spilled is his ticket to power.