Islamic social protection system fulfills multiple SDGs and serves as an excellent tool for building resilience and equilibrium in social and economic lives. For that, effective reforms at the legislative, constitutional, and operational levels are needed to tap the potential of Islamic finance options. This was stated at an event organized on Friday to launch a landmark report, ‘Islamic Social Finance for Social Protection in Pakistan’, based on research conducted by the Institute of Policy Studies (IPS), Islamabad in collaboration with Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) and Deutsche Gesellschaft für International Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH.
The session, presided by Prof Dr. Qibla Ayaz, chairman, Council of Islamic Ideology (CII), was addressed as the guest of honor by Muhammad Arshad, CEO, Prime Minister’s Health Program, Khalid Rahman, chairman, IPS, Dr. Atiquzzafar Khan, dean social sciences, Riphah International University, Dr. Salman Ahmad Shaikh, director, Islamic Economics Project and principal investigator of the study, and Mohammad Mustafa Khan, technical advisor, GIZ. Speaking on the occasion, Dr Qibla Ayaz termed the trust-deficit of the people in government institutions and capacity as the major hurdle in the way of creating a Zakat-based welfare system in Pakistan and stressed that foundations grounded in trust are hope for the future of social protection in Pakistan.
