KARACHI: The Sindh cabinet approved a draft of the Sindh Madressah Registration Bill, 2016 at its meeting on Saturday. The bill encompasses all issues concerning the seminaries in Sindh that require to be taken care of by the National Action Plan (NAP), officials said.

They added that the draft bill had been approved by the cabinet, but a committee, headed by the chief minister’s adviser on law, Murtaza Wahab, was constituted to finalise the draft law after meeting religious scholars and legal experts before it was tabled in the Sindh Assembly after 15 days.

The provincial cabinet meeting was presided over by Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah at the New Sindh Secretariat.

“We want to see complete eradication of militancy from Sindh, which requires implementing the NAP in its full spirit,” said Chief Minister Shah at the meeting. He said his government would streamline seminaries for which he sought cooperation of religious scholars. He said the government would provide all necessary support to the seminaries in the province.

Later, at a briefing to the media, Mr Wahab said the new law would comprehensively define the registration of all madressahs with identification of the sources of funding of every seminary.

Maula Bux Chandio, adviser to the chief minister for information, said the cabinet had discussed various laws during the meeting, which included the law on defamation.

Ministers concerned about madressahs being constructed along highways from Karachi to Jacobabad.

Officials said the madressah law would be tabled before the Sindh Assembly next month and the committee headed by Mr Wahab would rectify if the approved draft had any loopholes till that time.

“The stakeholders would include the managers of the madressahs and religious leaders who would be consulted to remove any loopholes in the present law,” said a senior official.

Officials said the draft law touched every aspect of the madressahs, including their curriculums, and the number of students with all required information about their origins.

According to the law, the management of a seminary will have to fill a form. The information, which the managers will require to be given to the authorities, include the location of a seminary, a no-objection certificate from the deputy commissioner concerned, title of the land on which a seminary will be built and clearance from the home department. In addition to this, the building control authorities in the relevant district will also require to issue a clearance form to the madressah management before its construction.

Officials said madressah management would also have to share the number of total students with the place they came from. They will also show the no-objection certificates from foreign countries for students coming from abroad.

Besides, a madressah management will be required to share information about its sources of funding.

Officials said the cabinet members also showed concern about the increasing number of madressahs being constructed along the highways and thoroughfares from Karachi to Jacobabad. They said in event of a controversy managements could use their students to block the roads, including the National Highway. Officials said the cabinet also discussed the construction of madressahs and ‘dastarkhwans’ by several banned organisations in Thar. They said the authorities concerned had been asked to prepare and submit reports about that trend before the government took a policy decision on the issue.

Officials said that after the introduction of the National Action Plan (NAP) against terrorism, the provincial apex committee launched a process to identify seminaries having links with banned outfits or unclear channels of funding.

The Sindh government lately identified at least 52 madressahs in the province having links with banned organizations, half of which are operating in Karachi. There are close to 13,000 seminaries in Sindh and hardly half of them have been registered yet.

Other bills approved

The Sindh cabinet also approved the Sindh Transparency and Right to Information bill. It will be sent to the committee concerned for review.

The cabinet also approved amendment in the voluntary social welfare agency ordinance to monitor performance of non-governmental organisations in Sindh and audit their accounts.

The cabinet also approved the Sindh Arms Act bill, which will be reviewed before approval by the assembly.

Amendment in the Sindh government rules of business bill, terms of reference for special security division, Panah shelter homes and defamation bill were also discussed.

Officials said the participants in the meeting agreed to review the defamation laws and to introduce a law establishing summary trial courts or tribunals to finalise the long pending cases of defamation.

Officials said the Sindh government was also drafting a law to table it in the assembly that calls for adopting ‘one’ Friday sermon across the province.

Published in Dawn, August 21st, 2016