Number crunching: Nearly half of Punjab’s seminaries are unregistered

Province tells top court that geo-tagging of all registered and unregistered seminaries has been completed .

ISLAMABAD:

Authorities in Punjab have claimed that nearly 6,500 unregistered madaris are currently operating in the province. This figure was shared with the Supreme Court, along with the information that the provincial authorities have completed geo-tagging of all registered and unregistered seminaries in the country’s most populous province.

As per a list submitted by the Punjab government before the apex court, in a case related to the regulation of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and implementation of the National Action Plan, there are a total of 13,782 madaris in Punjab. Of these, 6,479 are unregistered while 7,303 of them are registered and recognised by the government.



According to the list, the number of proscribed organisations is 63. Jamaat-ud-Dawa led by Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, Muhammad Azhar led al Akhtar Trust and al Rashid Trust led by Sheikhul Mashaikh Mufti Rasheed are enlisted under the United Nations Resolution (UNSCR 1267).

Sect-wise breakups revealed that Barelvis topped the list with 6,606 madrassas following by Deobandis with 6,106 seminaries across the province. The number of registered Barelvi madaris are 3,656 and 2,950 is the figure of unregistered seminaries. There are 3,092 registered and 3,014 unregistered Deobandi madrassas in the Punjab province. There are 230 Ahle Tashee madaris, including 147 registered and 83 unregistered ones, while Ahle Hadith has 840 seminaries among which 408 are registered and 432 are not.

The report is silent on the monitoring and regulation of these madaris and the provincial government’s efforts to uplift the seminaries’ education.

The report also revealed that for the effective and uniform regulation of 13,782 madrassas, the Punjab authorities have proposed to the federal government for their registration under a uniform legal framework, adding that it may in the line with the Punjab Private Education Institutions Ordinance 1984.

A committee, constituted by the federal government, is presently seized with the matter, the report pointed out.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 3^rd, 2015.