Riba: roundtable lauds FSC judgement

ISLAMABAD: The much-awaited verdict of the Federal Shariat Court (FSC) on interest-free economy, despite being overly delayed, sets the course in the right direction by cogently answering all reservations put forward earlier. The decision, by validating the practical viability of an interest-free economy, has opened up new opportunities for the realization of this dream, and should be treated as a stepping-stone by the government and all stakeholders collectively to further build upon.

This was the consensus view of participants of a hybrid roundtable organized by Institute of Policy Studies (IPS), Islamabad to discuss the way forward following the FSC judgment prohibiting and eliminating interest in all its manifestations.

The session chaired by Khalid Rahman, chairman IPS, was joined by a galaxy of experts, policy practitioners, scholars and Islamic banking and finance industry leaders such as Dr Waqar Masood Khan, former secretary finance and former SAPM on economic affairs; Dr Salman Syed Ali, lead research economist, Islamic Research and Training Institute, Islamic Development Bank, Jeddah; Dr Muhammad Ayub, director research and training, Riphah Center of Islamic Business, Riphah International University (RIU); Dr Atiquzzafar Khan, dean, Social Sciences, Riphah International University; Zafar-ul-Hassan Almas, joint chief economist, Planning Commission of Pakistan; Dr Tahir Mansoori, former vice president, International Islamic University, Islamabad; Muhammad Farhan-ul-Haq Usmani, executive vice president and head of Shariah audit and advisory, Meezan Bank; Azeem Pirani, chief executive officer, Pak-Qatar Family Takaful; Hafiz Dr Atif Waheed, leader of Tanzeem-i-Islami, Saifullah Gondal Advocate, special assistant for legal and parliamentary affairs, Jamaat Islami, Dr Anwar Shah, department of economics, Quaid-i-Azam University, Ghazala Ghalib, lecturer, Shariah & Law department, Int’l Islamic University Islamabad (IIUI); Ameena Sohail, legal consultant and IPS associate; Qanit Khalil, chartered accountant and IPS associate; Imran Shafique, advocate high court and visiting professor, IIUI; Ahsan Shafiq, ILKI Foundation, Istanbul; Naufil Shahrukh, IPS’ GM Operations, and Syed Nadeem Farhat, senior research officer at IPS.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022