GILGIT, June 3: The religious leaders have given a week long deadline to the administration of the Northern Areas to settle the dispute of the syllabus and redesign it according to the wishes of the majority of the people.

This was stated at a press conference here by the Khateeb of the Imamia Mosque, Agha Ziauddin Rizvi.

He told the reporters that the issue of the syllabus was lingering on for the last three years and all their efforts to settle it at government level failed.

Mr Rizvi said that they were forced to take to streets in defence of their religious rights enshrined in the Constitution.

He said that the syllabus was affecting over 75 per cent of the population of area.

The religious leader said that the controversies were not only confined to Islamiat, but were also found in the textbooks of Urdu, History, English and even the drawing books. They were designed to promote and preach the thoughts of a particular sect, he added.

Mr Rizvi maintained that they were not against the abolition of the syllabus but were in favour of expunging all the controversial matters from the books.