The House Building Finance Corporation Limited Pakistan: A Sharia’h Appraisal of Ghar Aasan Flexi Scheme

The main purpose of this paper is to examine the Sharia’h appraisal of House Building Finance Corporation Limited. The House Building Finance Corporation was established in 1952 under the act of parliament to finance construction of houses in the urban areas of Pakistan. In this research Ghar Aasān (Flexi) product of HBFCL is examined from Sharia’h perspective and a comparison is made with Islamic Banking (Meezan Bank Limited) and Conventional Banking United Bank Limited (UBL). This study also comprises the opinion of Sharia’h experts for the shariah compliance of Ghar Aasān (Flexi) scheme.

Voting Behaviour in Pakistan: An Analysis of Partisan and Floating Voters in General Elections 2013 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

This academic work is focused on the dynamics of voting behaviour with a particular focus on partisan and floating voters in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. The voting behaviour of the voters in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is constantly changing in each and every election. Questions arise that, why voting behaviour and preferences are frequently changing in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa? What are the main determinants of voting behaviour in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa? There is a considerable ratio of floating voters in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa that change their loyalties in each election. The scarce literature on voting behaviour in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa did not explain the frequent changes in voting behaviour in general and partisan and floating voters in particular. This study explores the concept of floating voter in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and operationalized it on the basis of previous research work. A scientific method was used to compare the results of three general elections (2002, 2008 and 2013) in the selected constituencies for identification of partisans and floating voters. Party identification theory was operationalized for the partisan voters which justified the argument that party identification is one of the main determinants of voting behaviour in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The study also figures out other determinants of voting behaviour in the 2013 such as the influence of the candidate personality, local and national issues, religion and social networks in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The „Issue Ownership Theory‟ and „Riding the Wave Theory‟ were operationalized to find out the issue voters in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The socio-political and economic circumstances in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa encouraged the influence of personalities in the electoral politics. While this research work recognizes personality vote hypothesis and tested it through Five-Factor model (FFM) of personality, the role of religion in making the political behaviour of the voters was also much visible. The study identified that religion-based voting is an important determinant of voting behaviour in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The strong social structure in the Pakhtun society and social networks like family, relatives and friends have significant influence on the political affiliation and vote choices of the individuals. The scope of this research work is limited only to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa which was divided into Northern, Central and Southern geographical regions or zones. From each zone two national assembly constituencies were randomly selected and data was collected through a close ended questionnaire on the basis of probability sample. The study is primarily quantitative. For analysis inferential statistical tests that include Chi-Square test, Paired T-test and cross tabulation were used to check the relationship between two variables and test deviation of differences.