KARACHI Chairman Businessmen Group in the KCCI, Zubair Motiwala, and KCCI President, Muhammad Idrees have extended gratitude to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif for taking interest in the implementation of the Federal Shariah Court’s decision of introducing Riba-free banking in Pakistan.
They have requested the government to introduce interest free banking in Pakistan according to the Islamic Principles and implement the court’s decision in true letter and spirit.
The Federal Shariah Court gave a verdict on 28 April 2022 after a lapse of 19 years. In the judgment, it declared that Riba was prohibited according to the injunctions of Islam so it should be eliminated from the country with in a period of five years.
This statement was issued in response to an appeal filed by the State Bank of Pakistan, and four other banks in the Supreme Court of Pakistan against the Shariah Court’s Judgment.
They termed the appeal as move to delay the conversion of conventional banking system to Riba free mode to banking. They also appreciated the assurance given by the PM Shehbaz Sharif to influence the banks to withdraw their appeals from the Supreme Court so that the Shariah Court’s decision could be implemented.
Chairman BMG Zubair Motiwala said, “Other Islamic countries like Saudi Arabia, Iran and Malaysia have made significant headway in implementing Islamic mode of financing in their respective countries. Like, Malaysia has an Islamic Financial Services Board which has set Standards, Guiding Principles and Technical Notes for the Islamic financial services industry. I believe that if these countries are able to successfully adopt Islamic financial system, Pakistan can also shift to Islamic Financing system in the decent span of five years”.
President KCCI Muhammad Idrees urged that all stakeholder groups should be consulted and if there are any genuine issues then these should be resolved on a fast-track basis to pave way for timely implementation of Islamic Financial System in the country.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022