Govt announces to move away from ‘interest’ based banking system

Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: In a sudden decision, the federal government on Wednesday announced that it will move ahead to establish an interest-free, Islamic banking system and withdraw in the coming days appeals filed against it in the Supreme Court of Pakistan.
Announcing the decision, Federal Finance Minister Ishaq Dar on Wednesday said that the government will withdraw the appeals against the verdict of the Federal Shariat Court (FSC) to end the interest-based banking system. He said that the appeals filed by the State Bank of Pakistan against the imposition of the Islamic banking system in the country.
In a televised statement he said that in recent years the progress on imposing an ‘Islamic’ system of banking had faced hurdles and challenges.
He further disclosed that when the Federal Sharia Court earlier this year issued its verdict to impose an Islamic form of financial and banking system, the government had knowledge that the State Bank of Pakistan and National Bank – both representatives of the government in the banking and financial sector – had separately filed appeals in the Supreme Court of Pakistan against the verdict.
“Because this is ordained in the Holy Quran, I believe the barometer of our decisions is the Quran and Sunnah, we all should follow it,” he said.
Dar said that with permission from Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and after due consultation with SBP Governor Jameel Ahmed, both the central bank and National Bank will withdraw their appeals from the Supreme Court and that their government will try their utmost to enforce the Islamic system of banking as soon as possible.
He prayed for divine guidance on imposing this new , interest-free system.