ISLAMABAD - Minister for Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony Sahibzada Dr Noor-ul-Haq Qadri on Tuesday said that the government wanted to make Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) effective and seek its guidance for making country’s banking system interest free.

Talking to media, he said encouraging interest free banking is imperative for transforming the country into a welfare state on the patterns of Madinah.

Flanked by CII Chairman Dr Qibla Ayaz and State Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Ali Muhammad Khan, he said the implementable recommendations of CII should be implemented as soon as possible.

He said efforts were underway to maintain a close liaison among Ministry of Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony, Interior, Education Ministry and Ministry of Law and Justice to get guidance from scholars to cope with challenges being confronted by the country. He said the prime minister would soon meet the members of CII to discuss recommendations and other issues. The foremost step towards establishing welfare state is to completely eliminate interest system from the country.

Ali Muhammad Khan said Pakistan will become a welfare state and a criminal negligence was made in this regard by previous governments. CII was badly neglected in the past, now onwards CII is independent in forwarding its recommendations.

He urged the members of CII to occasionally witness the proceedings of National Assembly and Senate for getting guidance from legislators.

CII Chairman Dr Qibla Ayaz said the meeting of CII was very thought provoking. The members extensively discussed the issues being confronted by the country. The meeting also discussed to maintain a close coordination with various departments and ministries for exhibiting positive image of the country before the world as such will restore peace besides bringing investment in the country.

He said the members of CII were agreed that declaring anyone permissible to kill or saying and declaring anyone infidel was not the handy work of any individual or a group of persons and the meeting was of the opinion that the punishments of such persons should be made more strict.

Earlier, addressing the inaugural session of CII, Qadri said Pakistan will be on the front, along with Muslim world, in their endeavours to draft international laws for curbing blasphemy against sacred personalities of all religions.

The minister said the ministry will extend full cooperation to the Council for implementation of CII recommendations, already forwarded to the Parliament. He said the CII offers a common platform to all schools of thought and it will definitely be helpful in Islamisation process in the country.

He assured of tabling CII’s recommendations in National Assembly and Senate without any further delay. He said Prime Minister Imran Khan was striving to transform the country as Islamic welfare state.