President Mamnoon Hussain on Wednesday called upon the banking experts and Ulema (religious leaders) to jointly focus their research on finding a workable strategy for promoting Islamic banking in the country.
Addressing a national seminar on ‘Islamic banking and finance: Prospects and challenges’ at the Islamic International University, the president said the benefits of Islamic financial system should reach the common man in order to end poverty.
The president said Islamic banking had immense potential of growth in Pakistan, adding that the subject needed profound research by the relevant experts.
He said that for the Muslim citizens of this country, it was obligatory to work for implementing Islamic financial system.
The president said the Islamic banking system was being given patronage at the government-level.
He said there was a need to nourish the culture of research in the country to explore the horizons of knowledge, which he said was a key to success for a nation.
The president said economics had eclipsed the importance of politics in the global scenario, and said that with research-based knowledge, a country could achieve economic stability and prosperity.
He said the government during the last two-and-a-half years had made remarkable progress in stabilising the economy and this fact had been acknowledged by the international monetary rating organisations.
The president said that corruption had negatively impacted the very fabric of society and emphasised on waging a Jihad against this menace.
He pointed out that during the tenures of the past governments, no significant development projects had been carried out.
President Mamnoon said the Kalabagh dam project had been made controversial while the rental power projects were launched wherein, massive financial corruption was made.
He said that during his meeting with Saudi King Salman bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud, he had proposed to open a campus of Islamic International University in Saudi Arabia.
He said the step would help Pakistani expatriates continue their goals of higher education.
Deputy Governor State Bank of Pakistan Saeed Ahmed said that the implementation of the Islamic financial system was important to ensure social justice for the people through micro-finance to end poverty.
He said that at present, five banks in the country were entirely Islamic, one was a subsidiary branch of a bank while 16 banks were offering both conventional and Islamic systems to their consumers.
About the challenges in the implementation of Islamic financial system in the country, he mentioned the lack of an enabling environment, research and qualified human resource and increased taxation on Islamic banks as compared to their conventional counterparts as the main hurdles to the implementation of Islamic financial system in the country.
Dar-ul-Uloom Karachi Head Mufti Muhammad Rafi Osmani, IIU President Professor Ahmed Yusuf Al Darvesh and IIU Rector Dr Masoom Yasinzai also spoke on the occasion.
Earlier, President Mamnoon Hussain visited the Islamic Research Department’s historic gallery and termed the ‘Allama Iqbal Section’ an excellent addition to the university hall.