KARACHI: A Karachi lawyer has petitioned Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to reverse the suspension and transfer of nine tax officials and to order an independent review of the Federal Board of Revenue’s reform program, arguing the reforms are failing to raise revenue and are demoralizing the agency’s workforce.
In a 20-point letter dated Oct. 21, Advocate Asif Ali Abro of the firm Asif Abro & Associates said he was writing in the public interest. He invoked Articles 4, 5, 9, 10A, 14, 19 and 25 of Pakistan’s 1973 Constitution. The letter asks the prime minister to take remedial steps to restore public confidence in government service institutions, prevent corruption and ease fears about job security among officers of the Inland Revenue Service and Customs.
The petition comes as the FBR faces turmoil among its ranks. The board suspended two senior tax officials for 120 days after a pen-down strike call against the government’s proposed restructuring plan, Pro Pakistani reported. The Inland Revenue Association later withdrew the strike call following a meeting with senior FBR officials.
Abro wrote that officers of the Inland Revenue Service, known as the IRS, were suspended and posted to other provinces on Oct. 19 and 20 as “punishment” for expressing fears about their job security. He said the officers’ only offense was voicing those concerns, which he called “a normal human conduct.” He asked that they be returned to their earlier posts and said the suspensions would hurt morale and the current year’s revenue target.
The letter names nine officers: Naib Ali Pathan (BS-20), Ali Salah Hayat Kalyar (BS-19), Ghulam Mustafa (BS-19), Sohail Anjum (BS-18), Muhammad Zarar Irshad (BS-17), Sehrish Jawaid Hussain Mirza (BS-18), Riffat Aziz (BS-19), Fatima Tariq (BS-17) and Aqsa Gharshin (BS-18). Abro said he attached notifications for the actions. He said the officers’ integrity could be verified through agencies such as the Intelligence Bureau.
Abro wrote that FBR officers fear changes to their terms of service as civil servants under the Civil Servants Act of 1973, as well as effects on seniority and career progression. They also fear the induction of outsiders into the department and a reduced role in decisions delegated to them by statute. He accused the agency’s current leadership of failing to address those concerns and of targeting “honest” officers to cover up a management failure. The letter offers no evidence for that claim.
He also asked the prime minister to hold an in-camera session with IRS and Customs officers without the FBR’s top leadership present, so they can give feedback on the reforms.
Much of the letter questions whether the reforms are working. Abro noted that the World Bank-supported Pakistan Raises Revenue Project was approved in June 2019 with $400 million in financing. He said the World Bank added $70 million in June 2025, bringing the total to $470 million, including support for the FBR Transformation Plan introduced in September 2024. He said the government holds the exact interest terms, but press reports put the rate at 2.5%.
He cited the International Monetary Fund’s report on the second review of Pakistan’s Extended Fund Facility, Country Report No. 25/332, published in November 2025. According to the letter, the report recorded that FBR collections for fiscal 2024-25 fell short of the original budget projection by about 1.224 trillion rupees. It attributed roughly 380 billion rupees of that gap to administrative and enforcement challenges. Abro said the IMF also identified large unexplained shortfalls in sales and trade taxes and questioned the realism of the government’s revenue assumptions.
On specific initiatives, the letter said the Tajir Dost scheme for retailers drew only about 58,000 registrations, citing a Dawn report, and was falling short of its 50 billion rupee target. It said customs assessments fell from 16% to 13% after the introduction of Faceless Customs Assessment, and that clearance times rose despite fewer documentation requirements, citing a Business Recorder report. Abro said only about one-third of registered sales tax filers were issuing live digital invoices at the end of March 2026, according to an IMF review. He added that a projected 46 billion rupees from digital invoicing in fiscal 2026-27 is not proof the revenue has been realized.
Abro also questioned the current year’s 15.263 trillion rupee collection target. He said it requires 17% growth but that only 7% growth had been observed in the first quarter, a figure he marked as subject to verification. He said only 7 million income tax returns had been filed for the tax year, against 19 million holders of National Tax Numbers, also subject to verification. He added that only revised targets have been met in recent years, never the original ones.
Beyond the FBR, the letter argues that structural problems drive tax noncompliance. Abro called for cutting the top income tax rates, currently 35% for salaried individuals and 45% for others, below 20%, and for widening the tax base through policy measures. He wrote that high rates are unsuitable when the state has failed to improve public services.
He argued that poor health, education, sanitation and law-and-order services at the local and provincial levels lead citizens to withhold federal taxes, because they view government as a single entity. He cited the deterioration of University Road in Karachi as an example and urged the prime minister to discuss service delivery with chief ministers and governors.
The letter also asks the government to annul an amendment to the National Accountability Bureau law that set a 500 million rupee threshold for the agency’s jurisdiction. The amendment was made through the National Accountability (Second Amendment) Act, 2022. Abro said it has weakened accountability, increased corruption in local and provincial departments and eroded taxpayer confidence. He also called for stricter enforcement against what he described as the country’s powerful elites, saying FBR action has focused on weaker segments of society. He urged better coordination among the Federal Investigation Agency, the FBR, the Financial Monitoring Unit, anti-benami zones and provincial property registration authorities to track tax-evaded money.
In a passage likely to draw attention, Abro argued that spending interest-bearing foreign funds on FBR reforms wastes national resources at a time when Pakistan needs money for defense equipment such as drones and for counterterrorism. He wrote that changing officers’ mindsets requires instilling the traditions of the Prophet Muhammad, the early caliphs, the Prophet’s family and the philosophies of poet-philosopher Allama Iqbal and Pakistan’s founder, Muhammad Ali Jinnah. In his view, foreign funds cannot change attitudes and could lead to personal enrichment.
He asked the prime minister to obtain complete program-wise expenditure records, including consultant costs, procurement, technology and implementation costs, along with invoices. He also asked for an independent, transparent, evidence-based evaluation of the reforms, covering policymakers, implementation arrangements, outside advisers and administrative leadership.
The FBR has not publicly responded to the letter. Several figures in the letter, including those on filings and quarterly growth, are marked by the author as unverified.
