The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has decided to regularize non-custom paid (NCP) and non-duty paid (NDP) vehicles in the Malakand Division and merged districts. The Excise and Taxation Department has finalized preparations for this initiative.
According to official documents, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has proposed to the federal government an amnesty scheme for six months to legalize over 200,000 illegal vehicles. The proposal outlines a detailed plan for regularizing these vehicles.
The documents reveal that in 2017 and 2018, the Excise and Taxation Department, with the assistance of security agencies and the police, profiled 99,334 NCP vehicles in the Malakand Division. Following a decision made in an Apex Committee meeting in October of last year, an additional 103,078 NDP vehicles in Malakand Division and merged districts have been profiled, bringing the total to over 200,000 vehicles since 2017.
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Secretary of Excise Fayaz Ali Shah stated that, since October 2023, more than 110,000 NCP vehicles have been profiled with police cooperation, and the process continues daily across Malakand Division and tribal districts. This profiling will provide these NDP vehicles with a local identity, facilitate their registration, and ensure they are identifiable in case of any illegal activity. Once profiling is complete, each vehicle is assigned a unique number, without which it cannot travel to other districts.
The proposal prepared by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government specifies the fees for the registration and customs duty of vehicles. For vehicles up to 800cc, filers will be required to pay PKR 100,000 in customs duty and PKR 15,000 in registration fees, while non-filers will pay PKR 150,000 in customs duty. For 1,000cc vehicles, the customs duty is PKR 200,000 for filers and PKR 300,000 for non-filers, with a registration fee of PKR 200,000.
For 1,300cc vehicles, filers will pay PKR 250,000, and non-filers PKR 350,000 in customs duty, along with a registration fee of PKR 30,000. Vehicles up to 1,500cc will incur a customs duty of PKR 350,000 for filers and PKR 500,000 for non-filers, with a registration fee of PKR 60,000.
For 2,000cc vehicles, filers will be charged PKR 450,000, and non-filers PKR 600,000 in customs duty, with a registration fee of PKR 80,000. For vehicles up to 2,500cc, the customs duty will be PKR 550,000 for filers and PKR 800,000 for non-filers, with a registration fee of PKR 100,000. Vehicles above 2,500cc will incur a customs duty of PKR 700,000 for filers and PKR 1 million for non-filers, along with a registration fee of PKR 200,000.
As per the documents, since October 10, 2023, profiling of 74,723 different NCP vehicles has been completed in the Malakand Division. This includes 34,382 vehicles in Swat, 11,233 in Lower Dir, 7,610 in Malakand, 6,444 in Bajaur, 4,736 in Buner, 3,794 in Chitral, 3,301 in Shangla, and 3,223 in Upper Dir.
In the merged districts, 36,786 vehicles have been profiled, with 12,512 in Kurram, 9,189 in North Waziristan, 7,726 in Khyber, 4,221 in South Waziristan (Lower), 1,404 in South Waziristan (Upper), 1,271 in Mohmand, and 463 in Orakzai.
The provincial government’s proposal includes a detailed procedure for legalizing these illegal vehicles. Joint facilitation centers comprising representatives from four departments—police, excise, customs, and the National Bank—will be established to regularize the vehicles under a one-window operation. Only those vehicles that have already been profiled in their respective districts will be eligible for registration.
The registered vehicle must not be stolen, tampered with, or have a modified chassis. Only one vehicle per national ID card will be allowed for registration, and the registered vehicle owners will be prohibited from selling the vehicle for five years. Registered dealers will be granted special exemptions, and the vehicle’s model and the filer/non-filer status will be considered during registration.
FBR sources have indicated that similar proposals were presented earlier by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government during the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) administration.
However, these proposals did not advance, partly due to allegations of fraud in previous amnesty schemes. The implementation of this proposal also seems uncertain, given the different political parties ruling at the federal and provincial levels, with both being strong opponents of each other.
Furthermore, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has strongly discouraged the government from introducing any amnesty schemes. Should the government proceed with such a scheme, it may face significant challenges from the IMF.
Sources further noted that while this amnesty scheme could potentially generate billions of rupees for both provincial and federal governments, implementing it may not be a straightforward task.
