RAWALPINDI: The caretaker Punjab government has left the decision of allocating funds to meet the expenditures of Jamaatud Dawa (JuD) seminaries taken over by the authorities to the new provincial government.

The previous government froze the accounts of JuD and its sister organisation – Falah-i-Insaniyat Foundation (FIF) – which ran the affairs of the seminaries and health units, and also took over the madressahs and the health units. The government will be releasing funds to keep the seminaries and the health units working.

The decision to take over the seminaries and the health units of JuD and FIF was taken before the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) at its meeting held in Paris in February this year.

A senior government official told Dawn that the caretaker government had no authority to make a policy decision so it did not release any funds. However, he said, expenditures of the units were being met as per routine through charity.

In Rawalpindi, the district administration took over the control of a seminary and four health units while in Islamabad the capital administration took over three health facilities and seven ambulances. There was no seminary run by JuD in the federal capital as per details provided by the deputy commissioner of Islamabad.

On the directives of the previous Punjab government, the Auqaf department conducted a survey of the institutions and came up with the details of their expenditures, including salaries, utility bills and food for students living in the seminaries, amounting to about Rs24.6 million a year.

“On the direction of the government, the district administration will submit the details so that funds would be allocated by the government,” said the official.

Published in Dawn, August 13th, 2018