ISLAMABAD Aug 24: The work on registering madressahs started on Wednesday in the federal capital and the four provinces amid confusion about the exact number of schools volunteering to get on board and the next step the government intends to take to bring them into the mainstream educational set-up.
The government has set sights on registering around 8000 seminaries during the process, leaving some 6000 others already registered under the relevant act.
The ministry of religious affairs has sent 9,500 registration forms printed after the promulgation of the amended Registration of Societies Act 1860 to the coordination cells set up in provinces as well as to the chief commissioner Islamabad. The central registration coordination cell in the ministry will receive weekly report about the number of registrations done by August 31, indicating the pace of progress made to meet the deadline of December 31, official sources said.
Secretary of the ministry of religious affairs Vakil Ahmed Khan, who is the architect of the whole process, has clarified that the government does not intend to ask the seminaries registered under the new law their source of income as it was not mentioned in the registration forms.
Talking to Dawn he said the 21st section added to the act in question “doesn’t mean in any way to ask the source of income from every madressah”. This is a misunderstanding spread by some people without comprehending the law.
He said the said section only requires registered madressahs to submit annual report of their activities and performance, maintain accounts of their actual expenses and receipts and submit them to the registrar once a year.
The chief objective was that “no deeni madressah shall teach or publish any literature which promotes militancy or spreads sectarianism or religious hatred”, he said.
Similarly, the six-column registration form, to be filled out by every seminary, does not ask any question about the income or source of income from them. The form seeks such information as name of the madressah, its address, the number of students studying there, details about the governing body and the head of the institution.
ISLAMABAD Aug 24: The work on registering madressahs started on Wednesday in the federal capital and the four provinces amid confusion about the exact number of schools volunteering to get on board and the next step the government intends to take to bring them into the mainstream educational set-up.
