ISLAMABAD, July 13: Interior Minister Moinuddin Haider said on Saturday that registration of mosques to gather data about their number would help in providing basic utilities there.

Talking to a delegation of Jamaat Ahl-i-Hadith that called on him, the minister said through the proposed ordinance to regulate Madaris, the government wanted to introduce contemporary subjects in the Madaris so that their graduates could compete for jobs and become useful citizens.

The delegations demanded official announcement that those possessing Dars-i-Nizami degrees were eligible to contest the election.

Although the University Grants Commission recognizes Dars-i-Nizami equivalent to master’s degree, the delegation insisted that it should be announced by the Election Commission. It told the minister that confusion prevailed among the religious parties on the issue, JAH Information Secretary Abdul Wahab Ropari told Dawn.

The delegation led by JAH Secretary-General Mohammad Ramzan Salfi demanded that the party should be included in the consultations being held by the government with religious parties on the law for regulating Madaris.