ISLAMABAD, Oct 03 (INP): The government on Wednesday re-imposed a ban on non-filers of tax returns from purchasing property and vehicles. Finance Minister Asad Umar while addressing the National Assembly announced that the ban the government had earlier lifted has been imposed again. "Non-filers still have time, they can pay their returns and become eligible to purchase property and vehicles again," the finance minister said. Umar further said, "Non-filers should be told that the state is not as weak as it appears and has the 'strength' to retrieve money from them." [timed-content-server show="10/03/2018 23:55 Asia/Karachi"]Further, the finance minister clarified, "Non-filers will be able to purchase motorcycles under 200cc while overseas Pakistanis and those acquiring property through inheritance will be exempted from filing tax returns." “A campaign against non-filers was initiated a day earlier and 169 big no-filers have been issued notices," he told the assembly. "A second phase of the campaign will also be launched this week and notices will be sent out to thousands." The finance minister further said, "The nation’s money should be spent on the nation and they should come back and take part." "We will catch those non-filers who have stashed huge amounts in their bank accounts," he added. Criticising the previous government, Umar said, “They are questioning us, who have been power for 40 days, why we cannot complete what they could not do in 40 years." “Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government had stopped the pensions of widows and Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) could not fly because the department was in so much debt,” he added. The finance minister further said, “The country’s circular debt increased by over Rs400 billion and then they say that streams of milk and honey used to flow during their terms." "The circular debt increased by RS453 billion and today the debt stands at Rs1,200 billion," he added. Umar said the gas department alone "is in a deficit of Rs454 billion”. He further said, “Independent power producers (IPP) are telling us that they do not have the capacity to produce electricity. I wish that the ones who are questioning the state of Medina also questioned their own government.” Moreover, Umar said, “Far-flung areas were being neglected while laying down transmission lines." "People of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan suffered owing to prolonged power outages and it was said that it was load-shedding since they did not pay their electricity bills. Even though, the truth is that even if there is electricity, it cannot be provided to KP and Balochistan owing to a lack of transmission lines," he said.[/timed-content-server]