Fazl rejects plan to put madrassas under ministry

Says govt following foreign agenda against religious seminaries to secure aid

ISLAMABAD: The Jamiat Ulema Islam (JUI-F) chief Fazlur Rehman has said religious parties have rejected the decision to bring religious seminaries under the control of the Education Ministry and would safeguard the religious institutions.

“We will battle to safeguard religious seminaries in the same way we battled the British,” he said on Monday. Fazl, who is also head of religious parties’ alliance Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA), asked leaders of the Ittehad Tanzeemat Madaris Deenya to stop negotiations with the government.

The JUI-F chief, who was speaking at an emergency press conference along with other MMA leaders in Islamabad, said several statements made by the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) spokesman on Monday were beyond the army’s mandate.

“The matters touched upon by DG ISPR were purely issues of governmental interest,” he said, adding that it appeared that the government's direction was set not by the parliament but by the General Headquarters (GHQ).

“The real government is that of the military,” he said, adding that the government issued statements against religious institutions just for the sake of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) loans.

“A wrong path is being taken for loans as wrong perceptions are spread against madrassas. We have never heard about madrassas being brought under control of Ministry of Education,” he said.

He asked: Who are they [education ministry] to introduce syllabus for the religious seminaries? You do not even have any uniform syllabus and continue to rely on 'made in USA' syllabus. It is an attempt to take away freedom of madrassas.

The JUI-F chief said a conspiracy was earlier hatched by the British but now it was implemented on the desire of the US. “There is an international agenda against seminaries and financial support is being to the country on condition that action will be taken against religious seminaries,” he added.