Economic Aspects of Islamisation in Pakistan

Abstract

In the economic sphere, the Pakistani military regime, with the support of feudal and big business interests, claimed to have embarked upon Islamising the economy by introducing profit and loss counters in banks on one hand, and imposing zakat (poor tax) and ushr (tax on agricultural produce) on the other. If the objective of Islamisation is to abolish an exploitative socio-economic system, then the introduction of profit and loss counters has not achieved this, nor has the imposition of zakat reduced the level of poverty in the country. In fact, the system became more exploitative and oppressive in the late 1970s. While 35 per cent of the rural population were living in abject poverty in 1977, the percentage of poor people in the rural areas had increased to 37 per cent in 1979 (Asian Regional Team for Employment Promotion, 1983, p. 239).