Murabaha Financing in Pakistan: A Practical Islamic Banking Aspect

Modes of financing in Islamic banking system are generally categorized as Sharaiah based financing like Musharakah, Mudarabah and Shariah compliant financing like Murabaha, Ijarah etc. Islamic banks should have adopted and promoted Sharaiah based financial instruments but instead they have been predominantly using Sharaiah compliant modes especially Murabaha due to some valid reasons. The aim of this paper is to highlight and know the level of satisfaction of the clients, businessmen, entrepreneurs, professionals, academicians and Islamic banking experts of the prevalent structure and use of Murabaha by the Islamic banks in Pakistan.

Sino-Indian Competition for the Resources of Central Asia: Implications for Pakistan

The friendly relations between India and China started after 1949 but got strained very soon as a result of the border issues. The relations got normalized after 1980s. Though they are trying to maintain their cordial relations but still there is competition on economic and strategic level. One such issue is the hydrocarbon resources of Central Asia. CARs appear on the world map as a result of the disintegration of Soviet Union after 1990. There are abundant of natural resources in the land locked Central Asian countries. Numerous regional and world powers wants to have a share in the natural resources of the Central Asian region. India and China are also in competition for the resources of this area. They are trying to find alternative routes for the transportation of these resources to their own countries. India has started to maintained friendly relations with the region but it has no direct links with the region. It has made investment in the Chabahar sea port of Iran and is also busy in the construction of INSTC to make its access easy to the region. China has also hugely invested in Central Asia. China has maintained strategic and economic relations with Central Asia. It is constructing pipeline and road networks for the transportation of the resources from Central Asia. Major objectives of the study are to analyze Sino-Indian competition for the resources of Central Asia and to examine its implications for Pakistan. To achieve the mentioned objectives, descriptive, analytical and predictive methodology is adopted. The bulk of the study is attained through analysis of the books, research papers, documents and newspapers etc. The research concludes that India is lagging behind China in Central Asia regarding the competition of the resources. The CPEC project in Pakistan is a part of ―one belt one route‖ policy of China for the connection of various countries and regions for trade purposes. It would connect China to Indian Ocean and then to the other parts of the world. It would be helpful in bringing economic and industrial development in Pakistan and would develop the region as whole. It is one of the important recommendations that Pakistan should make friendly relations with its neighbors and should resolve its issues with them in order to get the benefits of the above-mentioned competition and to avoid its lose.