Seminaries’ body warns of protests against DCs for not issuing permits to collect hides

Expressing concern and anger over the delay in issuing the permissions for religious seminaries to collect hides of sacrificial animals during Eidul Azha, the board of Deobandi madrasas on Saturday warned of organising protests against the deputy commissions if they did not issue to them the permits or no-objection certificates (NOCs) for collecting hides by Monday (tomorrow).

As per the code of conduct announced by the Sindh government for the collection of animal hides during Eidul Azha, all the organisations will have to seek a prior permission from the commissioner or the deputy commissioners.

Maulana Talha Rehmani, a leader of the Wifaq ul Madaris Al-Arabia, the board of madrasas belonging to the Deobandi school of thought, said that the deputy commissioners were not obeying the orders of the provincial government and the commissioner.

He said the religious clerics had already finalised with the government the standard operating procedures (SOPs) for the animal sacrifice and hide collection and on July 2, they spoke at a press conference at the Karachi Press Club to ask the people to follow the SOPs.

He recalled that on July 4, Sindh Local Government Minister Syed Nasir Hussain Shah had attended a meeting with religious scholars belonging to the Deobandi school of thought at the Jamia Ashraf-ul-Madaris to discuss the mechanism for the hide collection during Eid where Shah had announced that the Sindh government would renew the last year’s permits for the religious seminaries to collect hides of sacrificial animals during Eid.

On July 7, the Sindh home department also issued a circular regarding the renewal of last year's permits for the madrasas, he stated. “But despite all this, the deputy commissioners in the districts have been delaying issuing the permissions to the seminaries,” Rehmani told The News. He warned that the madrasa bodies would convene a meeting on Monday to chalk out a strategy for protests against the deputy commissioners at the district level if they did not issue the permits by then.