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PAKISTAN CHRONICLE • Friday, March 07, 2014
Pakistan halts air strikes against Taliban
LAHORE:More than five thousand fine arts students seen busy in painting as they make world record by attending the biggest art class during Punjab Youth Festival at Punjab Stadium.
Growth of Islamic banking and finance in Pakistan LONDON: A pre-publication copy of the Global Islamic Finance Report 2014, which is expected to be released on April 13 in Washington DC on the occasion of the Global Donors Forum, reveals that Pakistan ranks number nine in the world in terms of development of the Islamic financial services industry in the country. A London-based Islamic financial advisory company, Edbiz Consulting, has formulated the Islamic Finance Country Index (IFCI), which ranks about 50 countries of the world in terms of their role in developing, promoting and advocating Islamic banking and finance. Pakistan comes after eight countries, namely Iran, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Indonesia and Sudan. The Global Islamic Finance Report 2014 estimates the size of the global Islamic financial services industry at $1.813 trillion at the end of 2013. This represents 12.3% annual growth over 2012, an increase of $182 billion in absolute terms. Many Islamic financial institutions appear among top five banks in their respective countries. In Pakistan, the largest Islamic bank is Meezan Bank, which is fast assuming mainstream prominence. Growth of Islamic banking in the country has been over 30% in the last few years, which is certainly above the average global growth rate of Islamic banking and finance. If this trend continues, then one should expect that in the next three years Islamic banking assets will at least double from its current size of Rs926 billion. New strategy The newly unveiled Islamic banking strategy by the State Bank of Pakistan attempts to double the number of Islamic banking branches from 1,200 in the next four years, and to increase its market share from 10% to 15%. Given the huge potential the country
has in terms of Islamic banking, increasing the share to 15% is a modest aim. Indeed, if Islamic banking fails to achieve 20% share in the market by 2018, by all indicators, it has failed to reach its potential. Given that a number of banks are showing renewed interest in Islamic banking, the industry should target an increase of 2% in market share every year through Brownfield growth, ie cannibalisation of conventional banking and through conversion of conventional into Islamic banks. Once Summit Bank is converted into a full-fledged Islamic bank, it will become the second largest Islamic bank in the country, taking the number two position from BankIslami (assuming that BankIslami does not grow further). Only this will give 8% additional market share to Islamic banking over the next four years. If Islamic banks exhibit Greenfield growth, more than the growth in conventional banking, it should be able to double its market share. Greenfield growth is not only possible but is in fact needed in Pakistan where there is widespread financial exclusion. If Islamic banking is used as a tool for promoting financial inclusion, there is no reason that Islamic banking should not be able to achieve the important milestone of 20% market share. If that happens, the country will stand next to a number of Gulf countries and Malaysia where Islamic banking represents between 20% and 30% of the market share. Pakistan, however, will become the most important player in Islamic banking and finance, if it attains 20% market share. This is so because the country is the second largest Islamic market (population-wise) after Indonesia. The writer is an economist and a Phd from Cambridge University Islamic finance Country IFCI
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Sunday said it was halting air strikes against Taliban militants in response to a month-long ceasefire announced by the insurgents a day earlier, paving the way for the resumption of peace talks. The government entered into peace talks with the Taliban last month aimed at ending the militants' seven-year insurgency, but the dialogue broke down after militants killed 23 kidnapped soldiers. The military responded with a series of air strikes in the volatile northwestern tribal areas that left more than 100 insurgents dead, and on Saturday the Taliban announced a month-long ceasefire aimed at resuming the stalled talks. “After the positive announcement yesterday by the Taliban, the government has decided to suspend the air strikes which were continuing for the past few days,” Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan said in a statement Sunday. The statement added that “the government and armed forces of Pakistan, however, reserve the right for a befitting response to any act of violence (by the Taliban).” The Taliban's ceasefire announcement on Saturday was met with scepticism by analysts who said it may have been a tactic to allow the militants to regroup after they had taken heavy
losses in air strikes. But Khan said the “government considers the announcement of stopping of violent activities by Taliban a positive development.” He added that since the government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif took charge in June last year, Islamabad had not taken “any unjustified action” against the militants, choosing only to react to violence rather than initiating any new military operations. Rahimullah Yusufzai, a member of the government's negotiation team, told AFP: “I think that the possibility of resumption of peace talks has now increased. A ceasefire was the demand of the government and the negotiations committee. “But the ceasefire should be effective. If attacks continue then the conducive environment we are searching for won't materialise.” Balancing act Reacting to the minister's announcement, political analyst Raza Rumi told AFP that the government was attempting to play a balancing act and had to match the Taliban's ceasefire “to ensure right wing public opinion does not turn against them.” “I think one issue is the government wants to appear as a peace loving political entity. But deep down there is a desire by both parties to buy more
time given the way the situation is unfolding in Afghanistan.” “They want to wait for what happens,” he said, referring to the withdrawal of Nato troops from Afghanistan by the end of 2014 and its regional impact. Security analyst Talat Masood, a retired general, said the ceasefire had come about because the military's air strikes had forced the Taliban back to the negotiation table, and that the government should be careful not to lose its advantage. “One of the inherent dangers of a ceasefire is that it allows militants to regroup or reorganise. We will have to increase our intelligence to closely monitor if militants are regrouping or escaping during the ceasefire,” he said. He added that militant groups which are not in favour of talks may try to disrupt the ceasefire. Eleven paramilitary soldiers and one child died while 11 other people were wounded when three roadside bombs targeting a polio vaccination team in the lawless Khyber district exploded Saturday, in an attack carried out by the little-known Abdullah Izam Brigade, according to an official. The Pakistani military earlier on Sunday deployed a helicopter gunship to kill five militants it blamed for the attack, a senior security official told AFP.
Bilateral ties: ‘Chinese investment will usher in a new era’ LAHORE: Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif said on Saturday that China’s $32 billion investment package would usher in a new era of progress and development in Pakistan. “Pak-China friendship is higher than the Himalayas, deeper than oceans, sweeter than honey and stronger than steel,” he said. He said China’s investment in Pakistan would strengthen trade relations between the two countries. He was addressing a function arranged in honour of Sun Weidong, the Chinese ambassador to Pakistan. Rank Iran Malaysia Saudi Arabia Bahrain Kuwait UAE
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Sharif said China had helped Pakistan and its people in times of crises, including earthquakes, floods or other natural calamities. He said China had supported Pakistan’s position at every international forum. He mentioned various projects including the Heavy Mechanical Complex, Chashma Nuclear Power Plant and Karakoram Highway. He said Pakistan would be rid of load-shedding and put on the road to progress through cooperation with China. He said expectations of both the Chinese government and the people of Indonesia Sudan Pakistan Qatar Bangladesh Turkey United Kingdom
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Pakistan would be fulfilled. He said that China had also supported Pakistan in the defence sector. Sharif said his recent visit to China had been the most successful of his political career. He said that Chinese Ambassador Sun Weidong had played a key role in the visit’s success. He said that under the leadership of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, work would be carried out round the clock on the projects to be implemented with the China. He said energy and infrastructure projects would be completed expediently. Egypt USA Jordan Brunei Darussalam Yemen Lebanon Singapore
Internally displaced Pakistani tribal civilians, fleeing from military operations against Taliban militants in North Waziristan, arrive in Bannu, a town on the edge of Pakistan´s lawless tribal belt of Waziristan.
PAKISTAN CHRONICLE • Friday, March 07, 2014
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