LOWER DIR: Jamaat-i-Islami chief Sirajul Haq here on Tuesday asked the government to allocate funds in the upcoming budget for religious seminaries, saying those were the fortresses of Islam.

Addressing the certificate distribution ceremony of Jamia Tafheemul Quran at Lal Qila Maidan here as chief guest, he alleged that making boards for madressahs on the basis of sects was tantamount to pushing the country towards sectarianism.

Former MNAs Dr Ataur Rehman and Sahibzada Yaqub Khan, former MPAs Aizazul Mulk, Saeed Gul and Maulana Hidayatullah and chief of the seminary Haji Fazal Wahab also addressed the gathering.

Sirajul Haq said that over 3.5 million students were enrolled in religious seminaries in the country.

He noted that each government allocated funds in the national budget for all the sectors except seminaries and mosques, and asked if the students enrolled in seminaries were not Pakistanis.

The JI chief alleged that the government was trying to divide the religious schools by establishing boards for them on the basis of sects. On this occasion, he also distributed certificates among the graduating students of the seminary.

HEALTH FACILITIES: Special assistant to the chief minister on anti-corruption, MPA Shafiullah Khan, said on Tuesday that the provincial government was providing free healthcare facilities to the people through Sehat Insaf Card in the province.

He was addressing a function here as chief guest after inaugurating cardiac unit at a private hospital.

Briefing the participants, hospital managing director Dr Nabiur Rehman said that for the first time in Dir a heart patient was treated with insertion of stents with the help of modern machines in his hospital.

He said heart patients from Lower Dir, Upper Dir, Chitral and Bajaur would now get the facility of stents in the local hospital and they would not have to go to big cities for the purpose.

Mr Shafiullah said the provision of stents for heart patients on the health card would benefit the poor.

ELECTED: Gul Munir Khan has been elected president and Azizul Haq general secretary of Malgari Wakeelan, Lower Dir, during a meeting here at the bar room in Timergara.

Other office-bearers include Nagin Khan vice-president and Farman Khan joint secretary.

Published in Dawn, March 24th, 2021