Withdrawal of plea against FSC’s decision: Religious parties welcome govt’s decision

ISLAMABAD: Major religious political parties including government ally, the Jamiat Ullema-e-Islam (JUI) and opposition party, the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Pakistan have welcomed the government’s decision of withdrawing petition from the Supreme Court (SC) against the decision of the Federal Shariat Court (FSC).

The FSC had given a decision against the usurious system and the present government by withdrawing the petition has particularly shown willingness to implement an interest-free system in Pakistan.

JUI Chief Maluana Fazalur Rehman, in a statement, while hailing the government’s decision has said that owing to the continuous efforts of his party, the government has withdrawn the applications from the SC.

He said the government’s decision was an important step towards Islamic banking, saying that interest-free banking would play a critical role in economic and social development of the country. He said his party would continue efforts for the enforcement of a complete Islamic banking system in Pakistan.

Later, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar also visited JUI chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman who is also heading the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) to discuss the matter related to withdrawing the government’s petition in the SC of Pakistan against the FSC’s decisions on Islamic banking.

The JUI chief congratulated the finance minister on taking such a decision and said it would help improve economic situation of the country and his party would provide all out support to the government.

JI Chief Sirajul Haq also welcomed the government’s move. While taking to Twitter JI chief said, “This decision of the government is highly commendable and welcome. Complete freedom from usury is a requirement of Islam and the Constitution of Pakistan. Hope it will be implemented soon. If we follow the teachings and instructions of Allah and the Holy Prophet, we will be blessed both individually and collectively.”

Chairman of Pakistan Ulema Council (PUC) and Prime Minister’s Special Representative for Interfaith Harmony and Middle East Hafiz Muhammad Tahir Mehmood Ashrafi also welcomed the government’s decision to withdraw the application against the FSC’s decision on usury from the SC.

Ashrafi thanked Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, particularly, Minister for Finance Mohammad Ishaq Dar for taking such a bold step, abrogating the interest-based banking system in the country.

He said the withdrawal of the application from the apex court would pave the way to establish an Islamic society in the light of Quran and Sunnah. He said it was a long-awaited desire of the people that the financial system of the country should be interest-free.

He said the elimination of Riba (interest) would give an unprecedented boost to Pakistan’s economy and take the country to new heights of economic development and prosperity.

Ashrafi assured his all-out support to the government’s economic team on the behalf of Ulema and Mashaykh to bring reforms in the banking system as per Islamic injunctions.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022