Press Release
Capitalist System is an Inhumane System Which Will Never Solve Pakistan’s Economic Problems

On 13^th July 2019, traders across Pakistan went on a strike against the new tax policy of the government and did not open their shops and markets. There is no doubt that every citizen of Pakistan is distressed and worried because of heavy taxation imposed by the Bajwa-Imran regime on IMF dictation. The poor are worried because heavy taxation and increase in energy prices have increased the prices of daily consumption items and some of these items have gone out of their reach. The salaried class is worried because the government taxes their income before it even reaches their pockets and they find it very difficult to make ends meet. And traders are worried because on one hand their business is greatly affected by steep devaluation of rupee against the dollar and decreasing buying power of their customers and on the other hand new tax measures introduced by the regime have adversely impacted economic activities.

This regime is completely ignoring difficulties being faced by the people of Pakistan because it seeks to achieve economic targets set by the IMF. The regime does not care as to how many people will not be able to buy food and will become unemployed. The conduct of this regime is in accordance with the view point of the capitalist economic system. The capitalist economic system does not see economic problems as human problems rather it sees economic problems purely from an economic viewpoint and focuses on achieving certain technical objectives. In the capitalist economic system, a sound economy is that in which the GDP is high and growing and there is no budgetary or balance of payments crisis. So if these technical indicators are good than the economy of the country is considered to be on the right track and progressing irrespective of the fact that the people of that country are getting poor or inequality is increasing. There is no doubt that the implementation of corrupt capitalist policies cannot solve the economic problems of the people of Pakistan not even if the government team achieves the target it set for itself for collecting heavy taxes by employing oppressive means.

In contrast to the capitalist economic system, Islam views the management of the economy as a human problem and the economic rulings of Islam address the problems of humans as human issues not technical issues based on economic indicators. In the view of Islam, basic needs of each and every individual should be fulfilled and he or she must get equal opportunity to attain luxuries as well. According to Islam, the actual issue is not to produce wealth and achieve high GDP rates rather the goal is the just distribution of wealth in a society. Therefore if people are forced to sleep with empty stomachs and they don’t have a roof on their head, than the state has failed in the economic management of the masses’ affairs in the eyes of Islam even if the state holds huge foreign exchange reserves or has a high GDP rate. Islam insists on considering the human aspect while managing the economy that is why it links the revenue collection by the state with the wealth of an individual instead of his consumption. Islam’s definition of economic crisis is totally different from the capitalist definition. According to Islam, an economy is in crisis when basic needs of each and every person in a society are not met or the state is not able to take care of the affairs of the people, which is a Sharia obligation, because of lack of resources or any other reason. But today the capitalist system has announced that Pakistan is in an economic crisis because it cannot pay back its interest based loans.

O Muslims of Pakistan! Your miserable situation is because of the implementation of the merciless and inhumane capitalist system. You should not only reject oppressive taxes rather you must reject comprehensively this democratic capitalist system and the political elite linked to it. And you must demand the establishment of the Khilafah (Caliphate) on the method of the Prophethood which will liberate you from economic oppression by implementing the economic system of Islam and that will ensure your economic prosperity.

Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir in Wilayah Pakistan