LAHORE: If the government has come out and specifically urged for us not to donate the sacrificial animals’ hides to unidentified people, in my opinion, the citizens should be very careful about who gets the hides, says Mubashar Khan, 40, a small-scale business owner.

For him, the choice is clear; there is no question of any religious seminary getting charity from his side.

“We all know animals hides is a billion rupee business,” he says. “It’s a huge sum of money that we end up donating. But in our family we have always liked to see where the money goes and for us it becomes clearer when we see children being fed in orphanages, widows and old people get shelter. Edhi has always been the family’s choice.”

For others, it is important tradition to give the animal hides away to religious seminaries. This was never a problem until it was revealed that many of the seminaries may have links to militant groups like Al-Qaeda, Sipah-i-Sahaba and Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan among others. Still for numerous reasons many people remain unaware of which seminaries may be dangerous and which are not.

“We have always donated our charity to the local madressah,” says Shafaq, a housewife in Iqbal Town. “The maulana sahib there teaches our children so we are on family terms with him.”

But Shafaq is unaware of whether the madressah has been registered or not.

The Punjab government has formed 55 teams to monitor the situation to see where the hides go. A spokesman for the home department says the public has been directed not to give hides away to banned organisations such as Jaish-i-Mohammad, Jamatud Dawa and others. Then there are some others who have been banned by the department because of shady business or whose finances are not traceable.

“The seminaries and organizations, even charities like Shaukat Khanum, had to submit their applications with their accounts statements. We are strictly watching where the money goes.”

“As soon as we find that someone illegal or unregistered outfit is trying to collect hides, there will be a case against them under various sections,” he says, adding that even the Filah-i-Insani Foundation (FIF) will not be allowed to collect hides.

Multan-based Hanif Jalandhari, Nazim-i-Aala of Wafaqul Madaris Al-Arabia, condemns the government action.

“We condemn the fact that religious seminaries which provide education and food to children and sometimes even shelter have been painted with the same brush as militant organisations.”

Jalandhari says acquiring permission is a humiliating process where clerics had to go to court three or four times to obtain NoC from the district government which was often not even given.

Published in Dawn, September 2nd, 2017