LAHORE (INP): Ameer Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), Sirajul Haq has said the government has not taken a single step towards the implementation of the Federal Shariat Court’s (FSC) decision during last 15 months despite promises.
Addressing a seminar on economy here on Thursday, he said that the FSC had declared the Riba Act of 1839 un-Islamic in its landmark judgment in April 2022. Sirajul Haq said that Finance Minister Ishaq Dar had made a pledge during a sitting in Karachi in presence of the head of the PDM Maulana Fazlur Rahman and other religious scholars that the government would take steps in line with the court’s decision but the latter failed to honor his words.
There are clear provisions of the Constitution against interest-based economy and the Council of Islamic Ideology made recommendations for introducing Islamic system of economy, he said, adding the rulers of an Islamic country, however, are unwilling to implement the constitution.
The JI chief said the people were expecting from the head of the PDM that being a leader of a religious party he (Maulana Fazl) would at least raise voice against the riba but the latter disappointed the public. The PDM head, he said, expressed concerns on different issues time and again against his own government and never uttered a single word against riba. Siraj said the loans from the IMF would not provide any solution to the economy until unless the government introduced good governance, made check on corruption and non-developmental expenditures. Riba constitutes war against Allah Almighty and its Prophet (PBUH) and the prosperity would not be achieved in presence of this evil, he said, adding one of the worst impacts of the interest-based economy was that it makes the rich richer and the poor poorer.
Siraj for FSC decision’s implementation
