The growth of Islamic system in Pakistan has been broad-based and substantial but a lot more needs to be done and people in general have to be informed more about the benefits of Islamic financial system. This was the consensus of participants in the panel discussion at the conference on "Islamic Finance" held at a hotel here on Wednesday.
Initiating the discussion, moderator of the first session Shabbar Kazmi gave a brief account of the key segments ie Islamic banking, Modarabas, Takaful and Sukuk business in the country. Chief Executive Officer, Pak Qatar Family Takaful, Parvez Ahmed said: "People confine Islamic finance to Islamic banking. It may be true that banking plays a key role but effort should be to make the entire economic system Shariah complaint."
BankIslami Pakistan's CEO Hasan Aziz Bilgrami tried to clarify some of the recent objections made on the existing Islamic banking system. He was of the view that critics should enter into healthy academic discussions rather than giving judgements based on notions and perceptions.
Al Baraka Islamic Bank's Regional Manager Ahmed Shujka Kidwai appreciated the work being done to strengthen the regulatory framework and emphasised the need for close integration of the various segments to let the people invest and get modest return and also eliminate the Riba element from the economy as a whole.
First Habib Modaraba's CEO Mohammad Shoaib gave a detailed account of the Modaraba sector and its contribution in accelerating economic growth of the country. He said: "Pakistan pioneered the concept of Modarab and learning from this experience other Muslim countries have been able to expedite the process of Islamisation of financial system in their own countries."