Special Report
MULTAN: A staggering automotive registration fraud has surfaced in Lahore after traffic authorities intercepted a motorcycle near Mall Road and Hall Road for number plate tampering, only to uncover that a total of 2,354 motorcycles, rickshaws, and cars were registered in Punjab’s excise database under a single citizen’s Computerized National Identity Card (CNIC).
Initial findings suggest the operation was run by an organized nexus of unregulated auto financiers, showroom agents, and rogue facilitation networks. The mafia routinely exploits the stolen or purchased identity credentials and biometric verification of low-wage daily laborers to run undocumented installment businesses, legalise non-customs paid (NCP) vehicles, and evade vehicle transfer taxes.
The startling disclosure has raised serious concerns across Punjab, prompting calls for scrutiny in regional hubs, including Multan. Because the Excise and Taxation Department operates on a unified provincial database, similar illicit registration practices are feared in South Punjab’s auto markets, such as Vehari Road and Hassan Parwana Road.
Law enforcement officials note that bogus bulk registrations present a grave public security hazard. When vehicles tied to dummy records are involved in street robberies, fatal hit-and-run accidents, or automated Safe City e-challan violations, official notices and criminal liabilities fall upon unsuspecting victims whose CNICs were compromised, while the actual perpetrators remain untraceable.
Civic and legal bodies have urged the Director General of Excise and Taxation to initiate an immediate system-wide audit. They have demanded algorithmic screening across all divisional branches—including Multan—to flag and freeze any CNIC showing abnormally high ownership records, alongside strict criminal proceedings against complicit data entry operators and tout networks.
[4:28 pm, 24/10/2026] +92 300 6777020: Rupee Loses Over 88% Purchasing Power in 25 Years: PKR 100,000 from Year 2000 Shrinks to Just PKR 10,850 in Real Terms
Equivalent basket of goods requires over PKR 921,000 today; asset parity reveals an even steeper erosion
Gold surges from PKR 6,000 to over PKR 400,000 per tola; agricultural input costs multiply up to 20-fold, crippling South Punjab growers
Multidimensional poverty entrenched between 45% and 60% across Rajanpur, Muzaffargarh, and DG Khan amid escalating utility tariffs
MULTAN (Staff Reporter): Relentless inflationary pressure and chronic currency devaluation over the past quarter-century have severely eroded the purchasing power of citizens across Pakistan. A comparative economic review spanning 2000 to 2025 reveals that, under the Consumer Price Index (CPI), the purchasing power of the Pakistani Rupee has dropped nearly ninefold. Consequently, PKR 100,000 in the year 2000 holds a real value of merely PKR 10,850 today, requiring at least PKR 921,464 to procure an equivalent basket of basic consumer goods and services.
The disparity is even starker when benchmarked against tangible commodities and key consumer essentials. In 2000, PKR 100,000 could buy around 16 tolas of gold at roughly PKR 6,000 to PKR 6,500 per tola. Today, with gold prices surging past PKR 400,000 per tola, purchasing that same volume requires more than PKR 6.4 million. Similarly, petrol has climbed from around PKR 30 to roughly PKR 280 per litre, wheat has jumped from PKR 300 per 40-kg maund to nearly PKR 4,000, and per-unit electricity tariffs—including taxes and surcharges—have spiked from PKR 3 to between PKR 50 and PKR 65.
This sustained erosion has dealt a severe blow to the agrarian economy of South Punjab. Sharp escalations in the cost of farm inputs, with DAP and urea fertiliser prices multiplying between 12 and 20 times alongside ongoing challenges in the cotton sector, have left smallholders and tenants heavily indebted. Economic assessments indicate that multidimensional poverty remains persistently high in vulnerable southern districts—particularly Rajanpur, Muzaffargarh, and Dera Ghazi Khan—hovering between 45% and 60%. While statutory minimum monthly wages nominally grew from PKR 2,000 to PKR 37,000 over the period, soaring energy bills, medical expenses, and kitchen essentials have outpaced household earnings, leaving low- and middle-income families struggling for basic subsistence.
