KARACHI, March 31: The NWFP government has decided to introduce an interest-free banking system in the province.

Speaking at a press conference at the Karachi Press Club on Monday, NWFP Minister for Local Government Sardar Mohammad Idris said experts had been contacted and the State Bank of Pakistan governor had also agreed to assist the provincial government in this regard.

He said the MMA government had written off the interest amount worth Rs175 million on all loans of cooperatives. About 30,000 would be benefited from this facility, he added.

Mr Idris said the provincial cabinet had recently decided to implement Shariat in the province.

“We would present the Shariat Act in the assembly and all the provincial laws would be according to Shariat.”

The provincial assembly, through a resolution, would ask the federal government to also make the federal laws according to Shariat, he added.

He said relations with the federal governments were very good and that his government also wanted to strengthen local government system.

The provincial local government commission has already been constituted and the government has not made any changes to the provincial Finance Commission Award. The 60:40 ratio (60 per cent for the district governments and 40 per cent for the provincial government), fixed by the previous government, has not been changed, he added.

He said the government would make necessary changes to the local government ordinance, whenever it was necessary.

For a better law and order situation, he said, the government had constituted reconciliatory committees at the union council level. The committees would be headed by ulema and the area SHO would be secretary of the respective committee.

For national unity and identity, he added, the provincial government has made Urdu as official language besides introducing it in the competitive examinations.

He said the government was providing equal opportunities to everyone.

Mr Idris said that during his visit to Karachi he had invited industrialists to invest in the NWFP.—APP