He stressed that for the development of Islamic banking in Sindh all stakeholders will have to work together. "Sindh lags far behind in terms of development. You go out and see yourself the cosmopolitan city of Karachi which was once center of the whole region has almost ruined even citizens from other part of country were not willing to come to the city," Governor Sindh added.
Past glories of Karachi were also lost mainly due to the law and order situation of the city where target killings, extortions, strikes, gang wars, china cutting were norms of the day but now that things are declining, Muhammad Zubair. Governor Sindh categorically declared that 'the Rangers are not going anywhere' because government wants to ensure that 'bad old days' do not return. Rangers will stay as long as they are required, he added.
Talking about the condition of basic infrastructure of the city particularly state of the current transport system, he termed the transport situation 'shameful for us'. He sought help of business community of the city to contribute for the capital intensive 'Karachi Development Fund' that is going to fund the infrastructure of the city. Prime Minister has constituted a committee comprising all stakeholders including business community which would advise PM on the development projects, he added.
On this occasion Irfan Siddiqui, CEO of Meezan Bank, sought government's attention towards development of Islamic banking at par with the conventional banking by introducing Shariah based financial instruments. Irfan Siddiqui also pinpointed problems of Islamic banking industry in Sindh province where according to him 'lending by Islamic banks was most difficult task in Sindh' due to safety and return reasons. Bankers are reluctant to extend loans in the province. "Punjab has made significant progress in financial sector and sindh needs to follow Punjab's footprints," he added.
"When we go to Lahore and return back to Karachi we feel that we live in two different worlds," he observed. He informed that Islamic banking was fast growing as ADRs of Islamic banks have gone up by 57 percent of the total banking industry and total share of Islamic banks' has increased to 13 percent. "More than 94 percent people are convinced that the Riba (interest) is Haram which gives more room to the Islamic financing. People prefer Islamic banks for house financing," he said.
Sani Mehmood, General Manager Pakistan Stock Exchange briefed about the KMI-30 Index. GM Abbasi, Director Islamic Banking, State Bank of Pakistan highlighted the role of central bank in the promotion and facilitation of Islamic banking in the country. Mehmood Tareen, CEO of TPN, Ateeq ur Rehman, Former Chairman, Banking and Insurance Sub-Committee KCCI and President of Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry KCCI, Shamim Ahmed Firpo also spoke on this occasion. Large number of practitioners, religious scholars, Shariah advisors and experts participated in the conference and shared their views in panel discussions held as part of the event.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2017