The income tax department has issued notices to a large number of businessmen in the Kashmir Valley to produce details of their commercial transactions.

Panicked trading community has seen it as an attempt to “harass” them for their association with the separatist leadership.

Sources said the I-T department was also planning to send income tax notices to several separatist leaders who seem to have no visible source of income.

The I-T department's notices to the Kashmir Valley have come six days before the separatist leaders’ call for (October 6) “Lal Chowk Chalo” - the city’s historical and central point - to demand the right to self-determination for “azadi.”

The Hurriyat (freedom) leaders’ plan is to convert their “azadi” agitation into a “civil disobedience” movement by roping in people from every walk of life, including businessmen and industrialists.

Describing the I-T notices as an “unprecedented move”, the Kashmir Economic
Forum, which represents various bodies of commerce and industry, on Tuesday
said that it was retribution against traders “for their participation in the recent
mass uprising.”

“The Forum has decided to take up this issue with the director of the Central Board of Direct Taxes and the union finance minister for relaxation of guidelines fixed for the Kashmiri businessmen for continuing their business under present odds,” a spokesman for the Kashmir Economic Forum said.

Several groups of the Valley traders are also linking I-T department’s action to the recent flare-up between them and their Jammu counterparts following the agitation over the Amarnath Yatra land issue.

The agitation had led to a temporary blockade of the Srinagar highway by the Jammu agitators, who included traders, lawyers, teachers, Kashmiri Pandits and students.

In fact, the common man was more visible during the 63-day agitation.

The Kashmir Valley had described the “economic blockade” as an attempt to cut their lifeline, and responded by boycotting the trade from Jammu.

This had led to the president of the Jammu Chambers of Commerce and Industries, Ram Sahai, alleging that Dr Mubeen Shah, chairman of the Kashmir Chambers of Commerce and Industry, had actually given a call for the boycott of the trade from Jammu at the behest of the separatist parties’ coordination committee, which is now spearheading the “azadi movement.”

The president of the Jammu Chambers of Commerce and Industries, Ram Sahai has alleged that “it was one of the breakaway factions of the Kashmir Chambers of Commerce that wanted to snap ties with Jammu, because of the vested interests of Dr Mubeen Shah who runs his business in Dubai and Malaysia.”

The authorities have also claimed that Dr Shah has become a “puppet” in the hands of the separatist leader, Syed Ali Shah Geelani.

Dr Shah’s Kashmir Chamber of Commerce and Industries is one of the major trade bodies comprising the Kashmir Economic Forum, which has sharply condemned the income tax notices.

The Forum’s other members include the Federation of Chamber of Industries, Kashmir, the Kashmir Traders and Manufactures Federation, the Employees Joint Action Committee, the Kashmir Hoteliers and Restaurant Association, the Houseboat Owners Association, and the Fruit Growers Association.

The Valley businessmen have described the I-T department’s notices to them as “death warrant” and an act of revenge” against them as they had participated in the recent rallies and demonstrations organised by the separatist leaders.

The I-T department in its notices has also asked many traders and industrialists to attend the office in person or produce documents, accounts and any other evidence on which they may rely in support of the returns filed by them for year 2007-2008.

“This is for the first time that such notices have been issued en mass. The action
has caused panic among the trading community in the Valley,” said Muhammad
Shafi, an industrialist.

The I-T department has maintained that that one of the reasons for issuing such notices is that the union finance ministry had taken a decision to cover companies having creditors above Rs 30 lakh in balance sheets under purview of securitisation.

The Kashmir Economic Forum said that it had noted with grave concern the issue of I-T notices to businessmen across the Kashmir Valley.

“Biased officers have been requisitioned to harass and brow-beat the ordinary traders and Kashmiri businessmen who have been told to visit I-T office even on the last day of holy month of Ramadan,” the Forum alleged.

“It seems that the Central Government is using I-T department as a tool against the Kashmiri businessmen,” the Forum said, asking the members of business community “not to panic and get united to take our objective to its logical conclusion.”