In a series of tweets, Minister of State for Revenue Hammad Azhar on Tuesday said that people flying into Pakistan will be allowed to register one handset without having to pay duty charges.
But overseas Pakistanis are seen complaining of the situation they have found themselves in after government announced its policy to allow only one duty free mobile phone for the overseas travelers and register even one phone at airports and Custom houses.
People are still nervous and unclear about how they can get their mobile phone registered and whether they have to pay taxes on their new phone or not.
A video circulating on social media has shown scores of overseas Pakistani queued up at custom booth to get their phones registered.
An overseas Pakistani complains that people are going through headache after landing back in their country, pointing to serious flaws in the system.
Overseas Pakistanis have been complaining of mismanagement and having to bribe to get their job done.
In the video man complains, he went to the customs office, they referred him to the airport office.
Airport office told them they do not deal with the registration and told him to go to the cargo office.
At the cargo office, neither the system is functioning properly nor are they able to log in. People are standing there with the issued tokens for hours.
Another person says that he has been asked to pay money while the government policy goes into effect from January 1.
Moreover, he has been asked to pay money on one mobile, which according to the new system is admissible without any taxes.
The government is dubbing its new policy as an attempt to foil smuggling of mobile phones. However, since the announcement, if anyone is facing trouble due to this policy, that is the common man, not the smuggler.
Minister of State for Revenue Hammad Azhar @Hammad_Azhar tweeted:
The computer systems for mobile registration were down at Allama Iqbal Intl Airport last night for 2 hours due to connectivity issues.That has caused inconvenience to passengers. We have now doubled the registration kiosks at the Lahore Airport, AFU and customs house.
We are also finalising the integration of the electronic Customs and PTA system with mobile network franchises so that phones can be registered, and if need be, taxes also collected at the network operator's franchises in the near future.
How Overseas Pakistanis Can Register their Mobile Devices at Airports in Pakistan
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