MULTAN: The Wifaqul Madaris Al-Arabia demanded that the search operation against seminaries be stopped immediately.

At a press conference here on Friday, Wifaqul Madaris Al-Arabia South Punjab Secretary Maulana Zubair Ahmed Siddiqi said the joint operations of security forces had been going on for two days and hundreds of seminaries had been searched across the province.

“Offices, hostels and even kitchens have been searched by police. Harassment is being created among the teachers and students,” he said. He said seminaries were being defamed as part of an international conspiracy.

“No weapon has been recovered from seminaries during the search operation nor was any illegal activity reported,” he said. He said the government should now clear that the seminaries had nothing to do with terrorism, sectarianism and illegal activities besides taking action against the ‘officials’ who submitted false reports about the seminaries, while media trail of seminaries also should be stopped.

He said action against the seminaries of any particular sect was discrimination and it would further pave the way for fanaticism and sectarianism. He said action should be taken without discrimination.

He said the administrations of some districts were promoting sectarianism by including peaceful and non-sectarian personalities in the Fourth Schedule to keep them away from the administrative affairs of the seminaries. He said the Wifaqul Madaris was ready to solve any issue with the government.

Meanwhile, the Counter-Terrorism Department, police and intelligence officials continued their search operations on Friday. The search operation was conducted in Cantonment, Qutabpur, Muzaffarabad, Mumtazabad, Soraj Miani, Shah Shams, Qadirpuran, Makhdoom Rasheed, Basti Malook, Jalalpur city and Shujaabad. Multan City Police Officer Azhar Ikram led the search operation.

According to the official handout, police conducted raids on 16 seminaries of different sects and arrested 15 suspects besides recovering computers and other material.

OKARA: Police seized hate literature and arrested a suspect during search of different seminaries across the district during the last 48 hours.

District Police Officer Muhammad Faisal Rana told newsmen the Interior Ministry had sent a list of various seminaries having links with terror suspects. He said police teams searched 27 seminaries and recovered hate literature and arrested a man from Depalpur.

Published in Dawn, August 8th, 2015

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