Chairman Hurriyat Conference (M) and Mutehida Ulema Council president Mirwaiz Umar Farooq has expressed dismay and regret over the Government of India’s rejection to introduce Islamic banking.Mirwaiz in a statement to GNS said, “The people of Kashmir (which has a Muslim majority population) and hence many among them do not participate in the interest-based banking system in the state, have been demanding introduction of Islamic banking in J&K for a long time to accrue of the benefits of banking as per Islamic law and in turn help in the economic prosperity of the state.”Mirwaiz said it is ironic that while “un-Islamic” practices like liquor are promoted in the name of tourism and economic growth in the Muslim majority state, there is no push from these quarters to introduce Islamic banking as a “clean means” of bolstering the state economy through increase in finance assets and as a way of inviting investments from non -resident Kashmiris and others settled world over. “Many of (these people) are keen to invest here but want to do it as per the Islamic Shariah.”
The Hurriyat (M) chairman termed it sad that due to its “politically motivated” and “electorally driven agenda of religious polarisation”, the GoI is blinded to the benefits that Islamic banking can bring to its own people and the overall growth of its economy.Quoting a report, Mirwaiz said as per International Monetary Fund, Islamic finance assets grew at a double digit growth rate in the past decade from about $200 US billion in 2003 to $1.8 trillion at the end of 2013. “The growth is not only confined within the Muslim countries; China, Germany, the UK and the US are some of the non-Muslim countries with Islamic banking system in place,” he said.Mirwaiz reiterated the demand that Islamic banking be introduced in J&K without delay and asked the members of trade and banking sector to put pressure on the concerned quarters for its realisation. (GNS)