ISLAMABAD: Wafaqul Madaris al Arabia Pakistan (WMAP), biggest federation of religious seminaries in the country, condemned the deadly attack on the army-run school in Peshawar but at the same time warned against ‘undue criticism’ on seminaries.
“Undue criticism of seminaries under the garb of Peshawar attack would not be tolerated and should end immediately,” said WMAP interim secretary general Maulana Qazi Abdul Rasheed.
Addressing a press conference at Jamia Muhammadia in the federal capital, Rasheed announced that WMAP will observe Friday [today] as ‘condemnation day’ while on Saturday students of 25,000 seminaries will stage demonstrations across the country.
Rasheed said that “we condemn every type of terrorism but propaganda against religious seminaries must stop.” He said that undue criticism of seminaries is equally condemnable.
When asked for comments about the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan [TTP], which claimed responsibility for the Peshawar attack, he once again condemned the attack but avoided to comment on the TTP. However, he pointed out that some 2,500 scholars had condemned terrorism in all its manifestations in a recent meeting at Jamia Ashrafia.
WMAP interim secretary general said those who attacked innocent children in Peshawar had neither any link with Islam nor humanity. “The WMAP strongly condemns such barbaric act,” he asserted.
Rasheed said that martyrs of the attack are our children and we share the grief with their families.
Responding to a question about syllabus of seminaries, he said “we welcome you all to come and see what we are teaching our students. We would welcome even if someone wanted to assess our educational system.”
Published in The Express Tribune, December 19th, 2014.
COMMENTS (7)
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ
They need to shut up now. This nation is so against them all. We have had enough of them.
It is time that these madrassas, maulvis, seminaries and their funders be caged and punished for their inciting behaviour, lack of legitimacy for being religious scholars, direct or indirect link with terrorists etc. The kids in their possession should be rescued and educated as normal human beings. Military should take over these affairs as civilian government has black sheep inside who will never take these steps.
The cancer within the Pakistan is advanced, and can only be eradicated with severe and persistent measures. Even then it is questionable whether the patient can survive.
What do they mean by undue criticism , over the years we have seen these madaris giving fatwa of kafirs to the owners of other madrisas. They brain wash a child according to their own type of Islam and make them fanatics. The syllabus of these madaris should be changed to more modern teaching of Islam and making them a useful citizens. Any madrasa deviating from the syllabus should be closed and the principal/Imam to be put behind the bars. Similarly the Imams of the mosques should also be put under strict observation especially the ones spreading hatred should also be given life imprisonment .
Factories and nothing else
One name to shut these people up: Lal Masjid