Tangible measures: Lawmakers wage war against usurers

Say private moneylenders are so strong they make people sell houses

PESHAWAR: The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Assembly members have announced a war against interest on loans by tabling a bill that suggests penalties to discourage the practice.

The lawmakers tabled the bill, titled K-P Prohibition of Interest on Private Loans, in the house on Friday as a private-member bill. They also passed a resolution, making recommendations to the federal government to take tangible steps to wipe out interest from the country.

Lawmakers Fakhr Azam Wazir, Mehmood Jan, Sultan Khan and Izazul Mulk Afkari tabled the bill while, lawmaker Saeed Gul passed the resolution which was unanimously adopted by the house.

Fine on interest

The bill puts Rs1 million fine, with imprisonment of up to 10 years and not less than 3 years, for the person who lends money on interest or on an interest-based transaction. The same punishment and fine stands for people, who intentionally and willfully abet, engage or aid a moneylender in recovery of interest or interest-based transactions.

Moreover, the bill calls for a fine of Rs500,000 and imprisonment up to five years for those who harass any borrower or debtor for his own money or on behalf of anyone else. After the bill is passed, all liabilities to pay interest on debts will stand extinguished.

K-P Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser was interested in the bill and every party parliamentary leader welcomed the bill and extended their support to the government for wiping out interest on loans being taken by private people in the province.

The speaker said he received four cases in a month in which the loan borrowed skyrocketed. “People have to sell their houses to pay debt and loans,” he said. “I will call the IGP here and will ask him to launch a crackdown against the business.”

The opposition leader of the house, Maulana Lutfur Rahman, called it a curse, saying it has been destroying families. The lawmakers said lending loan on interest has become a profession and people involved in the business were so powerful that debtors have to sell their houses to pay back.

More bills

The house passed KP Limitation (Amendment) Bill 2016, removing articles 147 and 148 from Part-IX of the first schedule. Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs Imtiaz Shahid Qureshi tabled K-P Higher Education Academy of Research and Training Bill, 2016. The government also tabled K-P Tibb and Homeopathic Employees (Appointment) Bill, 2016 and K-P Faculty of Paramedical and Allied Health Sciences Bill, 2016. A lawmaker, Munawar Khan, tabled a private member bill titled, ‘K-P Land Acquisition (Amendment) Bill, 2016. Another lawmaker tabled K-P Adhoc Employees of Directorate of Information Technology (Regularization of Services) Bill, 2016.

Afghan refugees

Moreover, the house held a long discussion on the issue of refugees. The speaker said the police should not harass any refugees who possess legal documents.

Awami National Party leader Sardar Hussain Babak condemned the raids on houses of Afghans. He questioned that if Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairperson Imran Khan disowned the crackdown against Afghans then who was behind the launching of the crackdowns. “We are Afghans by race though our country name is Pakistan,” he said. “These people are our guests and we have hosted them for more than three decades, but now they are [being] harassed.” He added they should go back to their own country, but should not be forced to leave. “They should be sent through dignity,” he said. “The seed of hatred has been implanted between Pukhtuns of both the countries.”

The opposition leader, Lutfur Rahman, criticised the statements of the PTI leaders on the subject and told them to bring correspondence in their statements.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 13^th, 2016.