Govt completes geotagging of 3,662 madrassas

Sindh government has also repatriated over 35,000 Afghan nationals, CM told

KARACHI:

The Sindh government has managed to complete the geotagging of 3,662 of the 6,503 madrassas in Sindh, the chief minister was told on Wednesday.

The process of geo-tagging, through which the geographical location of the madrassas is marked, has been carried out under the National Action Plan and the process is likely to be completed soon. So far, 2,122 madrassas have been tagged in Karachi and 1,548 in Hyderabad.

These statistics were shared with Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah by the home secretary, Mukhtiar Soomro, who pointed out that there are 9,590 madrassas in Sindh and 6,503 of them have been registered. There are 517,695 students enrolled in the unregistered madrassas. "Geotagging will help us see the exact location of the madrassas," said Soomro.

Sindh IG Ghulam Hyder Jamali told the CM that 167 madrassas have been sealed for various reasons while 21 suspicious seminaries were raided in Karachi, Hyderabad and Badin. The police found hate literature is some seminaries and registered cases against them, he said.

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For his part, the CM thanked the ulemas of various schools of thought for their cooperation in giving access to their madrassas. "All the ulemas must be taken on board while registering their seminaries or raiding suspicious centres," Shah told the IG and the home secretary.

On the identification and repatriation of Afghan refugees, Soomro pointed out that 92,646 Afghan nationals are registered in Sindh. "A total of 650 families and 3,021 individuals were voluntary sent back by the Ministry of States and Frontier Regions in 2015," he said, adding that 35,278 Afghans have also been sent from Sindh until August, 2015.

The law enforcers have registered 720 cases against illegal Afghan nationals, arrested 2,100 illegal Afghan nationals, nominated 1,309 of them for judicial custody. Of these, 356 sought bail and 222 illegal ones were repatriated by the prisons IG.

Soomro pointed out that out of 458 condemned prisoners, 18 have been executed. "A total of 395 appeals are pending in the Sindh High Court, one with the federal Shariat court, 53 in the Supreme Court, five mercy petitions are pending with the President of Pakistan while the Sindh High Court has stayed four black warrants."

The government has also identified 61 banned organisations. Between September 2013 and September 2015, 1,155 terrorists have been killed, including 164 leaders of alQaeda and the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan and 130 working with the Lyari gangsters. Soomro added that 63,055 terrorists were arrested, including 879 belonging to alQaeda and the TTP and 67 working with the Lyari gangsters.

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The IG also mentioned the suspects handed over to them by the Rangers. Up to August 31, 2015, 495 such suspects were arrested, 489 were challaned, six are under investigations, two have been convicted and four have been acquitted. He added that 462 suspects are in jails and 21 have been given bail.

The IG gave a briefing on the latest arms given by the Chief of Army Staff, General Raheel Sharif. General Sharif assured to equip each and every police station with the latest equipments and gadgets, he added. After the meeting, the chief minister left for Islamabad to attend the National Action Plan meeting that will be presided over by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 10^th, 2015.