KARACHI, Aug 30: A five-member alliance of all the religious seminary boards of Pakistan on Monday urged the government to grant them charters of examining universities so that their role as educational institutes could be formalized.

Speaking at a press conference at Darul Uloom Naeemia, Mufti Munibur Rahman and Qari Mohammad Hanif of the Ittehad Tanzimaat-i-Madaris-i-Deenia Pakistan suggested that President Gen Pervez Musharraf could grant the seminaries charters of examining universities while parliament was not in session through an ordinance.

The Ittehad Tanzimaat-i-Madaris-i-Deenia Pakistan consists of Tanzeemul Madaris Ahl-i-Sunnat Pakistan, Wifaqul Madaris al-Arabia Pakistan, Wifaqul Madaris al-Salfia Pakistan, Wifaqul Madaris al-Shia Pakistan and Rabita al-Madaris Pakistan.

"The ordinance could then go to parliament which could pass it as an act. Many private sector universities have received their charters this way over the past 15 years.

It is worth noting that quite a few private universities do not meet the requirements laid down by the Higher Education Commission. And yet they are allowed to operate unhindered. These rules are laid down to obstruct those who are not in the good books of the government," they said.

They said if the government agreed to their proposal, they could within a week prepare a draft of the ordinance, detailing all the functionaries, boards of studies, examination system, financial management of the seminaries.

They demanded that the Higher Education Commission issue an unequivocal notification to all government universities, making clear that the degree of Shadat-i-alimya fil uloom al- Arabiya tul Islamiya was equivalent to the degree of MA Arabic/Islamiyat.

They also asked the government to declare that the assets of no seminary would be confiscated and there would be no intrusion into their affairs. "If the government suspects a seminary indulges in wrongdoing, it should come up with solid evidence.

It should also take into confidence the Ittehad Tanzimaat-i-Madaris-i-Deenia Pakistan before taking action against seminaries," they said. They said the government had appointed incompetent people in the Council of Islamic Ideology, the Supreme Court Shariat appellate bench and the Federal Shariat Court.

They added that the appointment of incompetent people in such respectable bodies gave them a bad name. They said if the government must favour people with dubious reputation, they should be placed in organizations where they belonged.

They took exception to the frivolous manner in which some quarters talked about, and suggested the repeal of, the Hudood Ordinance, Diyat Ordinance and Blasphemy Law. They recalled that a high-powered delegation went to Oslo at the request of the Norwegian government to hold comprehensive discussion on the issue and presented their points of view on alleged terrorism in the Muslim world, intolerance, human rights violations, crimes against women, etc.

Earlier, the Ittehad Tanzimaat-i-Madaris-i-Deenia Pakistan held a meeting at Jamia Farooqia Karachi under the chairmanship of Maulana Saleemullah Khan. Those who attended the meeting included Maulana Abdul Malik, Dr Sarfaraz Ahmad Naeemi, Maulana Ghulam Mohammad Siyalvi, Maulana Ghulam Dastagir Afghani, Mufti Mohammad Rafi Usmani, Mufti Mohammad Rafiq, Maulana Obaidullah Khaliq, Maulana Wali Khan al-Muzaffar, Maulana Qari Zamir Akhtar Rizvi, Maulana Mohammad Salfi, Maulana Mohammad Younus, Maulana Anwar Badakhshani, Maulana Abdul Rauf, Maulana Syed Mohammad Taqi Naqvi, Khwaja Abid Raza Mohsini, Maulana Mohammad Yaseen Zafar.