Charsadda prayer leaders reject K-P govt’s honorarium plan

Religious leaders, JUI-F officials raise questions over government’s intent, source of funds

SHABQADAR: Terming it a ploy to ‘buy’ their sympathies in the upcoming general elections, prayer leaders in Charsadda have rejected a government move to pay them a monthly honorarium.

A large number of prayer leaders of Charsadda gathered at the Jamia Mosque in Shabqadar Bazar on Sunday to deliberate the move.

The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government had late last year announced plans to pay prayer leaders of Jamia Mosques across the province a monthly honorarium of Rs10,000 to support them financially.

A local chapter of the Khatm-e-Nabuwat led by Haji Sayed Raheem Shah rejected the plan, calling it a bribe for the imams to gain their sympathy in the upcoming election.

He reminded the gathering of prayer leaders that the government has not yet devised any legislation for this honorarium and speculated that the money will be provided by non-governmental organisations (NGOs).

Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) Charsadda District Councillor Mufti Tahirullah Darwesh raised questions over where the money for the stipend was coming from and for what purpose.

He added that the government seemed to have ulterior motives behind the move to gain the sympathy of the imams and to create a problem for the next government to be elected into the province.

In what he believed was hypocrisy on part of the govt, Darwesh pointed out how there were 22 mosques across the province which were working under the provincial Auqaf department. Its prayer leaders were thus considered to be government employees but their salaries have been suspended for a long time on the pretext that the government ‘s finances are in a weak state. Moreover, he alleged that workers of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and sleuths from the police’s special branch were busy collecting data about imams across the province.

He joined the chorus of urging prayer leaders to either refuse requests for data or to provide incorrect data since the government had a malicious intention towards religious figures.

Shabqadar Tehsil Council member Maulana Rehmanullah asked the imams to inform local government officials if they were pressured by anyone for providing data.

He announced that a 15-member committee of all imams will be formed which will take up their concerns with government officers responsible for the programme. Moreover, sub-committees will be formed at the union council level to address concerns.

The JUI-F and the religious seminary board of the Deoband school of thought have already rejected the government’s stipend plan. They have demanded that, if the government is sincere, a bill should be introduced in parliament to regularise the process of handing out the stipend. The demand was backed by prayer leaders in Charsadda as well.

The government has formed a committee — comprising the district khateeb, the assistant commissioner of the area and the additional director of the local government — would be formed at the Tehsil level which would determine which mosques in their respective area qualify as Jamia mosques — and by association which pesh imams were eligible to qualify for the programme.

However, the Auqaf Department — tasked with preparing the programme — added that only pesh imams who hold a degree from any of the five Wafaqul Madaris in the country will be eligible for the honorarium.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 8^th, 2018.