CII clarifies Council gives no final decision about withholding tax on bank transactions

The Islamic Ideological Council (CII) has clarified that Council has not given any observation about withdrawal of withholding tax on transfer of money from banks and fact of the matter was that only few members held preliminary discussion on it, reported 24NewsHDTV Channel. 

 Earlier, Islamic Ideological Council (CII) on Wednesday declared that withholding tax on the withdrawal or transfer of money from banks is un-Islamic, adding that deducting tax on one’s own money has no reasonable justification in Shariah. 

Now CII clarified that the Council had not reached a final decision on the withholding tax, while in fact a few members had a preliminary discussion on it, in which the members had different opinions. The members asked for consultation with experts on this in the next meeting. Therefore, it was decided that a detailed discussion should be held on it in the next meeting of the Council and the opinions of the relevant experts should be sought. The Council did not take any decision on the issue under discussion.

CII chief Dr. Naeemi furhter explained that "while working within the framework of the Quran and Sunnah, we were asked to tell us that paying withholding tax on your own money in the bank is un-Islamic. There is no reasonable reason for this. It is not permissible to deduct this amount in any way.”
The ruling could have far-reaching implications for Pakistan’s financial system, where withholding tax has been a controversial source of government revenue.

The Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) has expressed disagreement with the proposed amendment bill to the Diyat law (blood money) and said that Sharia amount of Diyat, namely gold, silver and camels, were included in the law, while the proposed bill removed silver and made the non-Sharia amount of gold as standard.

Moreover, the council suggested that human milk storage institutions can be established under specific conditions, but to prevent corruption, mandatory legislation should first be enacted under its guidance. 

The Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) also suggested that when insulin containing halal ingredients was available in the market, then insulin containing pork ingredients should be avoided. 

According to the Council, the copies of the Holy Quran kept for Shahadah having impurities should be removed immediately after the Shahadah is recorded and in this regard government should make appropriate legislation. 

The Islamic Ideology Council has expressed reservations over the September 11 decision of a two-member bench of the Supreme Court which make it mandatory for a married woman ‘who has not performed sex with her husband, to go through iddat period and get expenditures in the event of divorce. The council said it was against the Quran and Sunnah.