Madrassah reform: ‘Don’t use seminaries for politics’

Ulema Council chief says extremism related to global situation.

LAHORE:

“The government must reveal details of billions of rupees spent under madrassah reform,” Pakistan Ulema Council [PUC] chairman Hafiz Tahir Ahsrafi said on Thursday.

He was talking to a delegation of scholars and administrators of various madrassas. He said seminaries provided both religious and modern education.

The PUC chairman claimed that madrassas were not the cause of extremism. “Extremism is on the rise due to global circumstances and illiteracy,” he said.

He said seminaries should not be used for politics.

“The prime minister and the interior minister have both assured us that there will not be a crackdown on seminaries. They have also assured us that there will be no policy formulated to harm them,” he said.

He said that every madrassa performed its own audit and never took aid from foreign countries.

The PUC chairman further said that if the government had evidence against any madrassa, it should be made public.

He said there was nothing undiplomatic about the presence of a Saudi guest at a Wafaqul Madaras gathering.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 28^th, 2014.