ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan has called for madressah reforms across the country and for investment of national resources in these institutions.

Mr Khan also decried the printing of blasphemous cartoons in European publications but said leaders of the Muslim world are to be blamed for the repeated publication of the cartoons.

He was addressing a conference organised by PTI’s Ulema Mashaikh wing, on Wednesday, where speakers termed the forced conversion of Hindu girls through marriages ‘unIslamic’.

“Maximum funds will be allocated for education including religious education in the new Pakistan,” he said.

He said that among those responsible for the current situation in the country are ulema and the ordinary citizens. “This is because they have never tried to resist tyranny and injustice,” the PTI chief said.

Mr Khan said that Pakistanis have also remained indifferent to sectarianism and internal conflict in the country.

He said Pakistan needs a welfare system based on Islamic norms of justice and equality of opportunity for all residents. “PTI is striving for healthy change in the country,” Mr Khan said.

The PTI chief said that prior to the 1857 war, madressahs used to be the centre of learning in the subcontinent but colonial rulers destroyed these institutions under a planned conspiracy.

Published in Dawn, January 29th, 2015

On a mobile phone? Get the Dawn Mobile App: Apple Store | Google Play