In the rent-a-loan business, you can pay but you can never leave
Dawn · Zareef Rind ·
How private moneylenders trap the poor.
Alamgeer Khan appears in a white shalwar kameez with a waistcoat at Quetta Chai Cafe near Jamali Pul in Ayub Goth. He parks his motorcycle and takes his spot. The waiter brings the usual: green tea with ginger. Alamgeer makes a few entries in small diaries and a few phone calls. After the cup is drained, he starts on the roster of visits. They are rarely pleasant.
The fifty-five-year-old would rather euphemistically introduce himself as a businessman involved in financing than the less elegant ‘moneylender’. The business model is simple: the money is the product. People need it, he provides it, and he earns by charging for its use, a return on the capital he has invested. A less charitable definition is usury.
“Banks do the same thing,” he says, “but they write ‘Islamic’ in front so their work is considered halal, while ours, because we are uneducated commoners of society, is called usury, haram.”