LAHORE, March 6: The District Officers (Enterprise and Investment Promotion) have been authorized to issue no-objection certificates for new mosques and seminaries under the devolution plan pending the promulgation of a registration ordinance by President Gen Pervez Mushharraf.
The president announced establishment of new mosques and seminaries only after the issue of a no-objection certificate by the government in his address to the nation on Jan 12 this year. He also announced the registration of the existing mosques and seminaries in his speech. The provincial governments have forwarded their proposals to the federal government in this regard for the enactment of a law.
People might be surprised over the entrusting of the issuance of the NOCs for new mosques and seminaries to the enterprise and investment promotion officials instead of those belonging to the Religious Affairs Ministry or the Auqaf Department but the registration of both kinds of religious institutions has always been a domain of the industries department as it is today.
Mosques and seminaries have continued to be registered not as religious institutions but as joint stock companies by the industries department since the days of the British Rule and the practice was continuing till the present government started implementing its devolution plan from Aug 14 last year.
Even the mosques and seminaries of the auqaf department were registered by the industries department. The District Officer (Enterprise and Investment Promotion) issuing NOCs for new mosques and seminaries under the devolution plan also belongs to the same department. Only his designation has been changed.
Authentic data in respect of the exact number of mosques and seminaries in the country or the province is not available as the registration was not mandatory. Joint stock companies registrar registered only those institutions whose sponsors approached it for the purpose.
Lahore had the largest number of 13,581 mosques and seminaries registered in the Punjab till Oct, 26, last year when the registration powers were transferred from the JSC registrar to the Executive District Officer (Finance and Planning) under the devolution plan.
As many as 1,913 mosques and seminaries were registered in the provincial metropolis. Multan and Faisalabad had the second and third largest number of registered mosques and seminaries which was 1,346 and 1,140, respectively. Pakpattan had the minimum number of registered mosques and seminaries which was 56. The figures in respect of mosques and seminaries registered under interim arrangements under the devolution plan were not available.