Absence of data on madrassahs shocks judicial panel

ISLAMABAD: The Justice Qazi Faez Isa-led judicial commission on the August 8 Quetta carnage has reprimanded officials of the interior ministry as well as the religious affairs ministry for failing to provide satisfactory answers to questions about Islamic seminaries.

The commission had asked whether any mosque or madrassah was directly or indirectly linked with either Jamatul Ahrar, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi or Lashkar-e-Jhangvi Al Aalmi militant groups. The religious affairs ministry said the matter was related to the interior ministry and provincial home departments and that the commission could obtain the information from the federal interior secretary and provincial chief secretaries.



Justice Isa wondered why the religious affairs ministry did not have the basic data. According to the information provided by the umbrella organisations regulating madrassahs, there are 26,465 seminaries, but not all of them were affiliated with the five wifaqs.

Surprisingly, there is no central depository of the basic data. And the exact number of madrassahs and their particulars are uncertain as no ministry or authority is even trying to obtain and collate this information, states the commission’s report submitted to the Supreme Court last week.

The commission emphasised that the state needed to have complete record in this regard, adding that without such information it would not be possible to formulate and implement any strategy to block errant elements.

Treatment of non-Muslims

The commission pointed out that the religious affairs ministry’s nomenclature was changed and it was now named ‘Ministry of Religious Affairs and Inter-Faith Harmony’. But the ministry appeared to have confined itself, according to its own website, to “matters relating to Hajj and Umrah”.

It doesn’t attend to matters relating to religious education or inter-faith harmony, the report states.



Citing historical examples, the commission stated that extreme care had been taken to ensure the safety of religious minorities and their places of worship. “When Caliph Umar (RA) triumphantly marched into Jerusalem (in 637 AD), he declined the Patriarch’s invitation to offer prayers in the Church of Holy Sepulcher because [he worried that] his followers may subsequently seize it [and convert it] into a mosque.”

The commission stated that the ministry should strive to counter hate-speech and extremism on intellectual level.

All five wifaqs responded to the commission’s queries, informing it that the Wafaqul Madaris-ul-Salfia regulated 695 seminaries, Wifaqul Madaris Al Arabia 14,590, Wifaqul Madaris Al Shia Pakistan 470, Tanzeemul Madaris Ahle Sunnat-Pakistan, 9,210, and Rabitaul Madaris Al Islamia Pakistan regulated 1,500 madrassahs.

“All umbrella organisations regulating madrassahs expressed the resolve to contain the spread of hatred and extremism and if any affiliated madrassah does so, they will proceed against those running it. The Tanzeemul Madaris Ahle Sunnat-Pakistan, however, insisted that individually monitoring all madrassahs “was physically impossible and this is the responsibility of the state,” the report states.

“If these [educational] institutions are found to be … spreading hatred, fitnah [mischief] or extremism, those running them should be stopped and proceeded against in accordance with the law. Regrettably, the state functionaries have stayed clear of madrassahs.”



Bad Journalism

Criticising journalists, the commission stated that news agencies and newspapers violated laws with impunity, and journalists made no attempt to verify the news before publishing it.

“They print whatever is dictated by terrorists, [mostly] lies. They also completely disregard the people mercilessly killed by terrorists and the hurt they caused to their … loved ones and friends. Such insensitivity and lack of empathy for human lives is inexplicable.”

The commission also observed that the visit of the army chief and the lockdown of the cantonment area also disrupted access to the Combined Military Hospital (CMH) … The injured and their treatment merited priority over everybody else. Unfortunately, the ingrained VIP culture is not sensitive to such needs.”

Published in The Express Tribune, December 18^th, 2016.