The government’s decision to station 144 Frontier Constabulary (FC) personnel at Green Leaf Threshing (GLT) units in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has been hailed as a long-overdue but bold move by Muhammad Ameen, Chairman of Fair Trade in Tobacco (FTT), who warned that the fight against Pakistan’s illegal cigarette trade is far from over.
Addressing reporters in Islamabad on Tuesday, Ameen described GLTs as “fully traceable” chokepoints in the tobacco supply chain and called their monitoring crucial to plugging a Rs400 billion annual tax gap caused by widespread evasion.
“There are only 13 GLTs in the country, and they are fully traceable. If we cannot control the tax leakage there, then where?” Ameen said, urging the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to ramp up enforcement at these facilities.
Ameen estimated that over 40 local cigarette manufacturers control 56% of the market but contribute a mere Rs5 billion in taxes, compared to Rs300 billion paid by just two multinational companies holding the remaining 44% share.
“This is not just a revenue problem; it is a structural sabotage of the economy,” he stressed.
While welcoming the FC deployment, Ameen called it only a starting point, urging authorities to institute real-time tracking of tobacco volumes processed at GLTs, reconcile them with leaf purchase records, and verify excise duty adjustments claimed by manufacturers.
“This is a national betrayal,” he said, warning that tax evasion at this scale is draining more funds than Pakistan’s combined federal budgets for education and health.
Ameen also highlighted flaws in the Track and Trace System, a government-run digital oversight mechanism. He revealed that only 19 out of 413 registered cigarette brands are currently compliant.
“These numbers speak for themselves. The system must be strengthened and implemented across the board,” he urged.
With the economy under pressure, Ameen called for a zero-tolerance approach against non-compliant manufacturers, insisting that enforcement should extend beyond GLTs to warehouses, retailers, and border checkpoints.
“Enforcement must become the new normal,” he said. “We need audit trails, real-time monitoring, and transparency in tax adjustments to dismantle this parallel economy.”
He concluded by noting the impact of the illicit trade on law-abiding farmers in rural areas, framing the crackdown as a matter of justice.
“This is about justice — for growers, for the economy, and for every Pakistani who pays their dues honestly.”
