Seminaries offer talks to govt to sort out security issues

LAHORE
Ittehad Tanzeemat Madaris Deenia (ITMD) has once again appealed to the government to shun their apathy towards the Islamic seminaries and come to the negotiation table with them to sort out the outstanding issues concerning national security.
The appeal was made in the meeting of the ITMD held at Jamia Al Muntazir on Saturday with Tanzeemul Madaris chief Mufti Muneebur Rehman in the chair. The meeting discussed the suspended talks’ process with the government that was raising concerns among religious quarters about the victimization of the seminaries on baseless charges, especially in the wake of the 21st amendment.
Other participants of the meeting included Wafaqul Madaris Arabia president Qari Hanif Jallundhari, Maulana Fazle Raheem Ashrafi, Hafiz Muhammad Nauman, Maulana Yaseen Zafar of Wafaqul Madaris Salfia, Maulana Muhammad Yunus, Allama Niaz Hussain Naqvi of Wafaqul Madaris Shia, Muhammad Afzal Haidri, Maulana Rehan Amjad and Maulana Abdul Maalik.
Talking to reporters, Mufti Muneebur Rehman rejected the allegations that seminaries were receiving funds from Saudi Arabia or Iran, and asked the government to shut the foreign funding sources if there were any. He said seminaries held annual audits as part of government registration process and its record was duly made available to the government, therefore the government officials should desist from making baseless accusations against seminaries.
He said the reforms process in seminaries has been continuing and all contemporary subjects including English were being taught to students. He said the ITMD has been writing to several government agencies to clarify their stance about the seminaries and the barrage of accusations in the wake of the 21st amendment but none of them replied. He said the government agencies must disclose the names of those seminaries allegedly involved in terrorism or stop making baseless accusations against them.
He said the meeting decided to hold the ITMD convention in Lahore in the second week of April instead of earlier fixed date in the third week of March.
The meeting also decided the constitution of the ITMD and the distribution of offices, under which the president of the ITMD would be from Wafaqul Madaris Arabia (Deobandi school of thought), vice president from Wafaqul Madaris Shia, secretary general from Tanzeemul Madaris Ahle Sunnat (Barelvi), Finance secretary from Wafaqul Madaris Salfia (Ahle Hadith) and information secretary from Rabitatul Madaris (Jamaat Islami).