ISLAMABAD, Dec 19: The Chief Justice of Pakistan Sheikh Riaz Ahmed has stressed on the need to revive the institution of Waqf because it is instrumental in helping poor and destitute in societies over centuries.

The chief justice was speaking at the concluding ceremony of the international seminar on ‘Waqf experiences in Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Kuwait and Pakistan’.

The seminar was organized by the International Institute of Islamic Economics (IIIE) in collaboration with Islamic Research and Training Institute (IRTI), Islamic Development Bank (IDB), Jeddah, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait Waqf Public Foundation (KAPF).

He said the World Waqf Foundation, Islamic Research and Training Institute, Jeddah, and Kuwait Waqf Public Foundation deserve appreciation for their moral and material support being extended in such valuable events yielding far reaching effects.

The chief justice said impacts of such events magnify when the administrators of their implementing organizations participate in evaluation and formulation of the current policies as well as future agenda.

He said the presence of representatives of Federal Ministry of Religious Affairs, Zakat and Ushr and provincial Waqf departments at the seminar gave a sense of confidence that the recommendations of the seminar would not be left unattended.

The International Islamic University rector justice Khalilur Rehman Khan (retired), presented an overall view of the seminar in his speech while Dr Ramazan Akhtar announced the declaration of the seminar.

According to the declaration, the Waqf institution required drastic Ijtehadi changes in system and its implementations. The declaration added this institution should be given an autonomous role free of political influence and bureaucratic constraints.

A representative of Kuwait Waqf Public Foundation, Ahmed bin Thani, spoke on development of Waqf management and its effects on investment.