By Asad Cheema
ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue, Miftah Ismail here Tuesday held a meeting with renowned Islamic scholars Mufti Muhammad Taqi Usmani, Dr. Hussian Akbar, Dr. Raghib Naeemi and Shaikh Azhar Iqbal on implementation of Shariah in banking system and elimination of Riba from Pakistan.
Minister of State for Finance and Revenue, Dr. Ayesha Ghous Pasha, Governor State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), Chairman Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP), Secretaries Finance, Economic Affairs Division (EAD) Law & Justice and senior officers attended the meeting.
The meeting reviewed the current state of Islamic Finance operations in the country, order of the Supreme Court and the Federal Shariat Court’s decision in the Shariat petition.
The meeting discussed and sought guidance in certain financial areas requiring more clarity for the implementation of Shariah in the financial system of the country.
On this occasion, Mufti Muhammad Taqi Usmani and others shed light on the different aspects of the Islamic financial system and gave their suggestions for designing a framework for the handling of public debt through Shariah-compliant financing/debt structure.
Earlier, The Federal Shariat Court (FSC) announced a verdict in a long-pending case on Riba (interest), declaring the prevailing interest-based banking system as against the Sharia and directed the government to facilitate all loans under an interest-free system.
In its long-awaited verdict, the court ruled that the federal government and provincial governments must amend relevant laws and issued directives that the country’s banking system should be free of interest by December 2027.
The court observed that banks were receiving more than the loan amount when fell under the category of usury.
