The All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA) has challenged the officially issued minutes regarding the revival of the Cotton Plan, stating that the document does not reflect the true essence, instructions, and consensus reached during the meeting.
According to sources, APTMA claims that the minutes were altered to serve the bureaucratic interests of the Ministry of Food, thereby misrepresenting government policy direction and the decisions of the Deputy Prime Minister/Foreign Minister.
In a letter written to Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar, APTMA stated that the meeting held great significance for the revival of Pakistan’s cotton sector.
However, the association strongly protested the minutes issued by the Ministry of Food, alleging that they significantly deviated from the actual proceedings and omitted several important decisions made under the Deputy Prime Minister’s clear instructions. According to the letter, the issued document failed to reflect the true spirit, guidance, and consensus of the meeting and appeared to have been restructured to serve bureaucratic interests, resulting in a misrepresentation of policy direction and the chair’s decisions.
APTMA claims that instructions related to institutional reforms and representation within the Pakistan Central Cotton Committee (PCCC) were either misreported or removed. Allegedly, the Deputy PM had directed the ministry to amend rules under the Cotton Cess Act to allow greater representation for APTMA and other private stakeholders, as outlined in the APTMA Cotton Revival Plan. Officials from the Ministry of Food acknowledged that renaming PCCC as the proposed Pakistan Cotton Board would be a lengthy legal process, but agreed that reforms would begin immediately through amendments to rules.
APTMA states that this key directive—discussed in detail and agreed upon by all participants including the Minister for Food—was completely omitted from the issued minutes, altering the legal and administrative implications of the meeting.
APTMA further claimed that the Deputy PM and the Federal Minister for Food agreed that 70% of total cess collection would be allocated solely for research and development (R&D) and 30% for administrative expenses. This was considered a necessary shift from the current structure, where only 5% of funds are used for R&D, weakening the cotton research system.
Both the chair and the minister confirmed that reallocating funds aimed to boost cotton production and align the framework with international models. However, the issued minutes reportedly excluded this directive and instead reverted to the outdated 2011 ECC framework, which the meeting had deemed ineffective.
Regarding cess rates, the Ministry of Food had initially proposed Rs 142.80 per bale. APTMA, citing economic pressure on the textile sector, requested it be capped at Rs 100. The Minister for Food approved the Rs 100 rate and called it fair and workable. He also instructed that the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) should directly collect the cess to ensure transparency and efficiency, with a joint mechanism to be established if needed. According to APTMA, this decision was also misrepresented in the minutes, which referred instead to old arrangements.
APTMA added that the meeting also agreed that the restructured PCCC would have majority representation from industry, with APTMA leading the body to ensure accountability and effectiveness. The Deputy PM reportedly stressed that the private sector must lead cotton revival, and instructed the ministry to finalize the institutional framework accordingly. However, APTMA claims the minutes diluted this directive by mentioning only general representation from provinces, universities, and farmers, while omitting the explicit agreement that APTMA would lead the process.
APTMA maintains that crucial legal directives—such as amending rules under the Cess Act, implementing the 70:30 R&D-to-administrative ratio, approving the Rs 100 per bale cess rate, FBR-led collection, and industry-led governance—were altered or deleted. The association warns that this distorts Cabinet Committee decisions and risks delaying or derailing the national Cotton Revival Plan.
Therefore, APTMA has requested the Deputy PM to instruct the Cabinet Division and the Ministry of Food to:
(i) Withdraw and reissue the minutes including all instructions given by the Deputy PM;
(ii) Clearly incorporate directives regarding rule amendments, cess usage ratio, approved cess rate, FBR collection mechanism, and industry-led governance under APTMA;
(iii) Send the revised minutes to all participants for review before finalization;
(iv) Ensure all future meeting records are finalized only after joint verification by all stakeholders to prevent misrepresentation.
