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ISLAMABAD: At least 41 seminaries are to remain closed in Islamabad during the March 23 military parade for security reasons, DawnNews reported.
The decision to close the seminaries was taken by the Additional Deputy Commissioner and other security officials.
Police stations within the jurisdiction of the 41 seminaries have been instructed to enforce the closure.
They include 18 seminaries of Police Station I-9, 14 of Abpara Police Station, 6 of Shahzad Town and 3 from Secretariat Police station.
Sources said the seminaries will be shut from 18th till 24th March.
The government has recently taken action on the monitoring of funds for seminaries accused of promoting militancy and extremism.
Measures have been taken in the aftermath of the December 16th Taliban attack on a school in Peshawar in which over 140 people were killed, majority of them children.
In January, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan met with representatives of madressahs who agreed that religious seminaries found involved in abetting terrorist activities would be dealt with in accordance with the law.
Read also: Seminaries to help identify ‘black sheep’
It was agreed in the declaration that a committee comprising federal and provincial departments and the Ittehad-i-Tanzeemaat-i-Madaris would be formed to prepare a comprehensive registration form to ensure registration of all seminaries.
Religious seminaries are now bound to submit audit reports of their accounts and any foreign funding would only come through official channels in a mode to be worked out by the government.
Read more
On DawnNews
Comments (61) Closed
Feb 16, 2015 09:11pm
Good, Shut them down permanently.
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Feb 16, 2015 09:12pm
shut them down permanently
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Feb 16, 2015 09:14pm
Isn't it a national holiday in Pakistan?
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Feb 16, 2015 09:23pm
Do we really need these seminaries? What is their function, other than teaching hatred, spreading militancy and cramming the Holy Quran without understanding a single word of it?
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Feb 16, 2015 09:29pm
Seminaries or Mullah making schools are the source of entire extremism in Pakistan. Peace is no more in Pakistan since Ziaul Haq's time - the promoter of Islamic fundamentalism.
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Feb 16, 2015 09:30pm
So if seminaries are security threat, shouldn't they be closed permanently?
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Feb 16, 2015 09:31pm
How quickly times have changed! Musharraf said he raised the groups to counter the threat from India and now the very same seminaries have become a threat to the very army that created these militant groups using religion as a tool. But then in Pakistan, no one dares question the army!
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Feb 16, 2015 09:35pm
Shut down permanently and move them out from capital boundary.
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Feb 16, 2015 09:43pm
plz shut them down permanently
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Feb 16, 2015 09:45pm
Hope Xi is going to be there or it's another slap in our face
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Feb 16, 2015 09:46pm
@HAIDER :: move them out of the capital.... to where? India or USA?
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Feb 16, 2015 10:10pm
Please make schools out of them. Give these kids some life and some future please.
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Feb 16, 2015 10:14pm
Govt is shutting down these seminaries due to security threats it means there is something wrong in it. Why can,t govt take action against all them if supposedly they are threat to our national security?
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Feb 16, 2015 10:23pm
Yet, another step in the right direction.
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Feb 16, 2015 10:25pm
Once they shut-down don't let them open again.
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Feb 16, 2015 10:33pm
Why shut down for parade only. If these seminaries are bad for parade then they are bad for civilians too
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Feb 16, 2015 10:47pm
Shut them all down, and only have "approved and vetted seminaries in the Capital" and to roll out this format throughout the country, so as to "ensure" no "false ideology is being instilled into the students"
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Feb 16, 2015 10:48pm
we demand permanent closure all the madrassas involved in terrorism!
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Feb 16, 2015 10:52pm
SHUT THEM ALL DOWN PERMANENTLY.
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Feb 16, 2015 11:06pm
OMG, 41 seminaries only in Islamabad, alarming. All of them should be closed. We don't have any benefit from them, they spread only "fitna" in the society.
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Feb 16, 2015 11:07pm
Shut them for good. Why only to protect army parade, why not public safety is important too. Shut them, seal them, bulldoze them.
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Feb 16, 2015 11:08pm
This is funny....if they are a risk on that day, they SURELY must be a risk everyday.
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Feb 16, 2015 11:20pm
@malzy Shut down all and send all the kids to Islamabad best schools, as they are equal citizens.
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Feb 16, 2015 11:22pm
Good decision, shut the forever !
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Feb 16, 2015 11:23pm
41 Seminaries ! no wonder Islamabad is always under threat. Jago Pakistan Jago.
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Feb 16, 2015 11:29pm
These are very odd seminaries in that they are a security threat only during those particular days!
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Feb 16, 2015 11:33pm
@akhthar ......these seminaries were created under the auspices of political parties who are supported by various mullahs
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Feb 16, 2015 11:44pm
Shut them for good or convert them into vocational training centres (minus the crazy mullahs)
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Feb 16, 2015 11:51pm
Please don't let them open again. They are not of any benefit to society and is causing more harm to Islam by distorting it.
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Feb 17, 2015 12:11am
I wonder if Saudi Arabis has so many seminaries ( our beloved /brotherly /friendly country).
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Feb 17, 2015 12:12am
Strange. If these seminaries are a security risk then they should be shut down permanently.
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Feb 17, 2015 12:16am
@Adeel Amen, brother!
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Feb 17, 2015 12:24am
@akhthar Everything has a purpose for a perticular time and needs. When need is over, its time to close. Simple.
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Feb 17, 2015 12:36am
Please close all these seminaries. let these kids have a normal education and a future. and if some one wants to excel in religious education they can do their bachelors and masters in Islamic studies but let them join mainstream life. If we didn't course correct our direction today, 15-20 years this country will be in worse situation then Iraq or Syria.
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Feb 17, 2015 12:40am
Irony!
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Feb 17, 2015 01:06am
In the presence of active central and provincial government why do you need an other TANZEEM to monitor madrassas. This clearly shows weakness of the government.
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Feb 17, 2015 01:17am
Are we protecting the public from the seminary or just the military and the parade? Obviously, the dangerous nature of these madrassahs has been acknowledged, so why the temporary measures.
Stop the tip toeing around the menace and go full throttle Mr. Nisar.
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Feb 17, 2015 01:18am
If the Madrassahs are a security threat to the Armed Forces, they are a threat to Pakistan. If the Armed Forces are vulnerable to the seminaries, the ordinary civilians are ever-more vulnerable. Shut the madrassahs for good and save the children. Send all the madrassah students to government schools.
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Feb 17, 2015 01:36am
These kids need alternate schooling. Govt or army whoever plz provide them free schooling so that these seminaries are no longer needed.
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Feb 17, 2015 01:48am
I wish daily military parade in Islamabad -- 365 days of the year.
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Feb 17, 2015 01:52am
41 seminaries in a small town like Islamabad ? Why so many and why in Islamabad ?
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Feb 17, 2015 02:07am
The parade had a meaning when the Chinese President was coming as a Chief Guest. Is it really needed now?
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Feb 17, 2015 02:10am
@KafirMusafir : India. They both deserve each other....
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Feb 17, 2015 02:11am
If they are a threat to Army it means that they are a serious threat to common citizens. Can someone ask government and Army why don't they close them temporarily. Is the 1 billion USD funding from Saudi Arabia a hurdle in this way?
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Feb 17, 2015 03:58am
Has Saudi Arabia been consulted before this decision to close the seminaries?
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Feb 17, 2015 04:13am
@A Shah
he ain't going to be there.
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Feb 17, 2015 05:39am
General Raheel, please do something!
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Feb 17, 2015 05:49am
@malzy Yes, what about closing them forever?
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Feb 17, 2015 05:54am
What is this military parade going to prove? That we are as strong as India? I thought we had a fuel emergency a little while ago. This government seems to have a short term memory problem. Use the money to be spent on this parade for something that will benefit the people.
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Feb 17, 2015 06:02am
Three problem is the amount pub hypocrisy that runs in Pakistan. A seminary is consider a threat while the massive radicalization that happens in the main stream media where rabid mullah's spread sectarianism goes unnoticed. A significant populace that include Judges, lawyers supported mtaz Qadri wouldn't have studied in madrases. They are the common Pakistani's who claim are moderates. There are people in the army who support Taliban. There are politicians like Imrankhan that support Taliban. There are millions of Pakistani's who support JuD. Moderates are few & far between. And Pakistan is in civil war
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Feb 17, 2015 06:15am
You are closing the seminaries because they are security risk, I assume. Then why from 18 24? Why not permanently? The point being that if they are a security risk for Military due to their propensity for violence imagine how bad they must be for ordinary citizens, therefore, they should be brought to justice beside being shut down. Unfortunately, these seminaries have done nothing except to teach their pupils intolerance and violence under the guise of religion teachings and they must eradicated from all over Pakistan.
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Feb 17, 2015 06:24am
principles of all religion teaches us to respect all.to be good mankind. sir, we request to to see in our country any text book of any standard or religious school not a single chapter of hatration will be there.bcos in education department all religious scholors are there, they approve and issue to school colleges. so extremism in india is at a very low level. so in each and every sector of industries all people are working togather. if any thing found illegal govt. takes action.so as on today 125 crore people are living with equal rights and in unity.
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Feb 17, 2015 07:08am
Shut all those & more for good.
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Feb 17, 2015 07:18am
If a place needs to be shut down temporally due to "security" concerns then it must be shut down for good
Someone will need to show some courage and shut these illegally encroached, foreign funded terrorist factories in the heart of the capital
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Feb 17, 2015 07:21am
These seminaries host high profile guests for terrorism. Isn't it dangerous for the security of the capital on every day basis?
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Feb 17, 2015 07:29am
Turn them into rehab centers for our wounded warriors and wounded civilians by evil terrorist.
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Feb 17, 2015 08:18am
These seminaries are going to stay as long as poverty is there.
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Feb 17, 2015 09:08am
If seminaries are security threats for army then how they are safe for ordinary citizens and why they are left open for rest of the year. They should be permanently closed and their students should be enrolled in regular schools. Why we need two different education system to create two different streams of citizens.
One thing is for sure now even army recognizes that the seminaries a threat for peaceful conduction of army parade hence all claims of Govt/ establishment and interior minister chaudhry Nisar and mullah Hadrat that majority of seminaries are peaceful are just fake.
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Feb 17, 2015 11:33am
Seminaries are as essential to the existence of Pakistan as are the private and government sector schools . What a stupid decision by the State Aauthorities.
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Feb 17, 2015 11:35am
They should be closed for eternity.
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Feb 17, 2015 03:27pm
@Mr.Realist you need to recover from your state of illusion.
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