Fact-check: Is Shafi Ullah Jan correct in claiming that parliamentarians have been exempt from toll tax since 2003?

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa information minister, Shafi Ullah Jan, has claimed in a recent interview that since 2003, all lawmakers, judges and army generals have been exempt from paying toll tax across the country.

The claim is misleading.

Claim

In an interview with a private channel on July 7, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Information Minister Shafi Ullah Jan was asked about a new bill, titled the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly Powers, Immunities and Privileges Act, 2026, which proposes exempting Khyber Pakhtunkhwa lawmakers from paying toll tax on motorways.

In response, Jan claimed: "Since 2003, all parliamentarians, judges and generals have already been exempt from paying toll tax."

His comments can be heard at the 11:14 timestamp here. He later repeated the claim during the same programme, adding that the exemption has been in place for the last 20 years.

Fact

Jan's statement misrepresents the existing toll exemption policy.

Vehicles belonging to the Armed Forces of Pakistan and those displaying the flags of the Supreme Court or High Courts are exempt from paying toll tax across the National Highway Authority (NHA) network - therefore all highways and motorways.

However, vehicles carrying members of the National Assembly, Senate and provincial assemblies are exempt only on three motorways - M-2, M-9 and M-11 - and not across the country's entire motorway and national highway network.

Muhammad Ahmad Hassan, the general manager (revenue) at the National Highway Authority (NHA), the government body responsible for overseeing Pakistan's national highways and motorways, told Geo Fact Check over the phone that under the NHA Tolling Policy 2010, the following vehicles are exempt from paying toll tax on all national highways managed by the authority:

• Ambulances
• Fire brigade vehicles
• Official provincial police vehicles
• Vehicles bearing High Court or Supreme Court flags or insignia number plates
• National Highways and Motorway Police vehicles
• Armed Forces of Pakistan vehicles

Hassan said Pakistan has nine motorways. Members of the National Assembly, Senate and provincial assemblies are exempt from paying toll tax on only three of these: M-2 (Islamabad-Lahore), M-9 (Hyderabad-Karachi) and M-11 (Lahore-Sialkot).

NHA officials also shared copies of the concession agreements for the M-2, M-9 and M-11 motorways. The agreements list the following categories of toll-exempt vehicles:

• Provincial Police and National Highways and Motorway Police (NH&MP) vehicles
• Fire brigade vehicles
• Ambulances
• Armed Forces of Pakistan vehicles
• Vehicles carrying members of the National Assembly, Senate and provincial assemblies in person
• Vehicles displaying Supreme Court or High Court flags or insignia number plates

Separately, the Federal Minister of State for Law and Justice Barrister Aqeel Malik also confirmed that the NHA grants toll exemptions to vehicles carrying members of the National Assembly, Senate and provincial assemblies only on a limited number of motorways.

Malik further said lawmakers may voluntarily pay toll tax even where an exemption exists.

"Generally speaking, I, as an MNA and even as a federal minister, pay toll tax through M-Tag, including when travelling in an official vehicle," he said.

Pakistan Peoples Party Senator Palwasha Khan also told Geo Fact Check over the phone that she always pays toll tax, including when travelling in her official vehicle.

However, Geo Fact Check could not independently verify whether parliamentarians were exempt from paying toll tax in 2003, as the policy governing such exemptions before the introduction of the NHA Tolling Policy 2010 could not be independently obtained.

Verdict: The claim is misleading. Parliamentarians are exempt from paying toll tax only on three motorways, not across Pakistan's entire motorway and highway network.

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