At a time several world economies are considering adopting interest-free banking system to streamline their finances, the Pakistani government is still in a quandary to support a draft bill aimed at doing away with the interest-based economy in the country. There is no place of interest, markup or riba in the Islamic economy, but expediencies always come as impediments to accept the challenges of interest free financial system. Interest-based economy absolutely confronts with the Islamic system and it is not acceptable in any form. The government has concerns about the public debt of over Rs19 trillion and implications of floating bonds in the international market. According to newspaper reports, the Ministry of Finance has already stopped proceedings of the National Assembly Standing Committee on Finance and Revenue on the Eradication of Riba Bill, 2015 on the grounds that the matter is sub judice. Therefore, it cannot be discussed in any forum even at parliament which has the authority to discuss any matter. One thing is clear in this situation and that is ‘until ifs and buts’ have dominance in the rules of the business, the government will never reach a decision on the issue.
The country’s banks are allowed to charge and take interests and markups in clear violation of the principles of Islam which rules every field of life in a Muslim society. The move to rid the nation of interest-based financial system has been continuing for the last 25 years. However, little progress has been made on the issue and every successive government has tried to pass the matter on to the next government. The dream of Islamization of the constitution is still far away due to myopic approach of the parliamentarians and some so-called clerics towards the Islam jurisprudence. In their views, enforcement of punishments is the basis of the Islamic system whereas thrust of Islam is on the reward rather than on prosecution or persecution. Various European countries, including the United Kingdom, are giving serious thought to the interest-free economy because it discourages exploitation of any segment of society. Various banks are offering interest-free banking in the country and are attracting a good number of clients. The Federal Shariat Court declared Riba repugnant to the injunctions of Islam in 1992 which was upheld by the Supreme Court’s Shariat Appellate Bench in 1999. The bench has granted the then government two years to amend the relevant banking laws to stop the collection of Riba
Earlier, a steering committee was formed to looking into the matter but its findings have still not shared with the parliamentary panel. The newspaper reports suggest that the Finance Ministry has a debt of over Rs19 trillion to its ‘credit’ and it has to pay annual interest of around Rs1.35 billion. The interest-free economy will also bar the government from to borrowing money by float international bonds. The current government has already borrowed $3.5 billion by floating bonds in the international market. In this situation, the dream of interest free-banking system is still far away.
