Ishaq Dar Vows to Introduce Interest-Free System in Pakistan

The federal government has decided to withdraw applications filed in protest of the Shariah Court’s decision to impose an interest-free banking system in Pakistan. In this regard, Federal Minister for Finance, Ishaq Dar, announced that the government will drop the application filed by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) and National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) against the Shariat Court’s ruling. He further stated that the government is constantly working on introducing an Islamic banking system in the country as prescribed by the Quran and Sunnah, and remarked that the government intends to implement the decision as soon as possible. Moreover, he stated that the enforcement of the ruling, particularly the future strategy, was recently discussed with the Governor of SBP. Also, Finance Minister noted that concrete efforts were made between 2013 and 2018, along with the formation of a special committee, which included Maulana Taqi Usmani. However, its implementation slowed down significantly in the past few years, he added. Previously, the Federal Shariat Court issued a ruling mandating Pakistani banks to adopt an Islamic interest-free banking system in the country. As a result, SBP and NBP appealed to the Supreme Court (SC) for a reversal of the Shariat Judge’s order.