November 5, 2003	Wednesday	Ramazan 9, 1424

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ISLAMABAD, Nov 4: Treasury members in the National Assembly on Tuesday severely criticized the existing Zakat system in the country and called for its revamping.

The members were taking part in a debate on a motion moved by Malik Amin Aslam “regarding maintaining the check system in the distribution of Zakat to avoid any irregularity and corrupt practices”.

Moving the resolution, Malik Aslam said there was a need to devise a new policy regarding distribution of Zakat, as the present system had failed to bring any change in the lives of the people, which was evident from the fact that the poverty had been increasing in the country for the past several years. He said the present Zakat system was adopted in 1980 and the past 23 years showed that it had completely failed to resolve the poverty and unemployment issues.

He regretted that the government deducted Zakat from the bank accounts of the people but it had brought no change in the life of the deserving people. He said on average Rs4 billion Zakat was deducted from bank accounts. Mr Aslam said he was surprised to know that Rs14 billion Zakat was lying unutilized in a country where poverty and unemployment had been constantly increasing.

He termed corruption in the Zakat distribution as the main reason for the failure of the present system. Presently, he said, there were 80,000 Zakat Councils in the country but there was no monitoring system on the distribution of Zakat.

Dr Afzal Qadir said the Zakat committees had been constituted on political grounds and, therefore, it was also distributed on political basis. He regretted that Zakat was deducted from the accounts of the people of FATA but it was not distributed in the tribal areas.

Rashid Akbar said the people were being forced to pay Zakat through deduction from their bank accounts. He said Islam did not allow forceful payment of Zakat. “Is there any single family or a person, who has been rehabilitated through the Zakat fund in the past 23 years,” he asked. He said the whole system should be suspended and a committee comprising parliamentarians be constituted to formulate a new policy.

Afsar Begum said instead of giving meagre amounts as Zakat, industries should be set up in the country from the Zakat fund so that people could get employment.

Khurshid Afgan said people had to face great difficulties in getting Zakat due to lengthy documentation process.

Parliamentary secretary for religious affairs Asad Gillani said he would welcome the formation of any committee, if constituted to resolve the problems being faced in distribution of Zakat. He, however, said there was a system in every province and district to monitor distribution of Zakat system. He asked the members to give proposals and recommendations for the improvement of Zakat distribution system and assured that these would be implemented.

Sardar Bahadur Ahmed Khan, through another motion, drew the attention of the House towards the problems of the sugar cane growers. He said the sugar mill owners were exploiting the situation and were not making any payment to growers.

He said agriculture sector was being ignored and not getting proper attention. He suggested the formation of chambers of agriculture in every district. He asked the industries ministers to ensure that the sugar mill owners would make payment to growers and start crushing season. He said growers were suffering due to rift between the government and the mill owners.

Speaking on the occasion, Federal Minister for Industries Liaquat Jatoi said the government was aware of the importance of the agriculture sector. He said the government had purchased 0.1m ton sugar from the mills and had promised to purchase another 0.1m ton in the few days on a condition that mill owners would make payment to growers. He announced that the crushing season would start from November 15.