‘No disagreement over registration and reformation of Madrassas’

KARACHI: Federal Minister for Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony Sardar Mohammed Yousuf on Friday said there was no disagreement over registration and reformation of Madrassas, and the clerics agreed that it was essential.

However, at the same time reforms should also be made in the educational system, he said. The minister was addressing “Meet the Press” programme at the Karachi Press Club here on Friday.

In reply to a question regarding the controversy over moon sighting, he said the government was considering calling all those people who were opposed to celebrating Eid on one day.

Replying to yet another question regarding Friday as being the holiday, he said that a standing committee of the National Assembly was reviewing a resolution being presented in the assembly and a decision would be taken after its recommendations. He said clerics had also agreed to present audit reports for their funds, adding that the government will come up with a process to regulate foreign funding.

“Lawmaking on seminaries should be done after taking into confidence the Tanzeem-ul-Madaris, and there was a consensus on this,” and reservations of these Madrassas have already been removed.

The minister said that there was complete unanimity among the Ulema of different schools of thought on the issue of registration of seminaries. Sardar Yousuf said the registration process would be carried out by the Ministry of Interior in coordination with the provincial governments.

He said a complete unanimity emerged in the National Assembly and Senate standing committee, and a resolution has been passed that the teaching of the Holy Quran be made compulsory in the primary schools up to Class 5 and teaching of the Holy Quran with meaning in the secondary schools from Class 6 onwards.

Legislation in this regard would soon be made, he said. The minister said that the new Haj policy would be announced soon after an agreement with the Saudi government and said that the 2014-15 Haj policy was successful in the sense that the government made efforts to reduce the Haj package from Rs0.3 million to Rs250,000.

The minister said this year Haj would be exemplary as the government was making every effort to facilitate the pilgrims. With regard to the Nizam-e-Salat, he said that it has been implemented in the federal capital and it would be implemented in the provinces too.    

On the Friday sermons, he said that a code of conduct has already been issued. He also said that ground work to introduce Arabic into the curriculum as a compulsory language up to the secondary level has been completed and the project would be initiated in KP before being introduced into other provinces.