Federation of seminaries wants to be in the loop

Anti-terror steps

By Waseem Abbasi
January 03, 2015
ISLAMABAD: Wafaq ul Madaris Al-Arabia, the largest federation of Islamic seminaries in Pakistan, has expressed concern over harassment of religious teachers in some of its member institutions but vowed to expel any religious school found involved in spreading any kind of violence.
The federation that has 18,000 religious schools as its members complained that it has not been taken into confidence so far by the government about the proposed measures for regularisation of seminaries.
The National Plan of Action against terrorism announced by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif last week also envisages registration and regulation of all Madaris in the country.“There have been raids on some madaris by local law enforcement agencies in Faisalabad, Lahore, DG Khan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa but nothing has been found against these madaris,” said the General Secretary of Wafaq ul Madaris Al-Arabia, Pakistan Qari Hanif Jalandhari.
Talking to The News, Qari said none of the registered schools has been found involved in any kind of terror activity but the federation is ready to extend all out cooperation with the government.
“If solid evidence is presented against any madrisa registered with us, Wafaq will immediately cancel its membership and we will fully cooperate with the government on the issue,” he said. Hanif said Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had promised to take the Madaris into confidence on any measures taken as per the 20-point National Action Plan but the administration of madaris is still waiting for any contact by the government.
He said the All Parties Conference (APC) has agreed to amend the constitution to facilitate military courts as per the Action Plan but the same plan also envisage measures related to Madaris registration so the federation of seminaries wants to know the details of amendment.
Hanif Jalandhari urged the Prime Minister to exclude madaris from the national action plan.He said Ittehad Tanzeemat Madaris is waiting for the contact by the government before announcing its future strategy.