The top civilian and military leadership – in a rare meeting with representatives of religious seminaries – made it abundantly clear on Monday that the government intended to register and streamline their working at all costs.According to those present in the meeting, both Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Army Chief General Raheel Sharif were willing to listen to the legitimate concerns of members of the Tanzeem Ittehadul Madaris (TIM). However, neither one of them minced words in getting the message across that no madressah would be spared if found involved in any kind of extremism or terrorism-related activities. Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, who is the point person for the implementation of the National Action Plan, had a two-hour brainstorming session with TIM leaders, after which another two-hour session followed, where the prime minister and army chief responded to queries of religious scholars. The gathered ulema were also informed that no preaching of hate speech or incitement to violence would be tolerated. They were also assured that the random crackdown on seminaries would stop. The action falls under the National Action Plan and is intended to prevent the growth of extremism in the country by imposing tougher checks on all organisations that may in some manner be promoting extremist thought. The prime minister told the meeting that there would be no compromise on this principle and that seminaries in Punjab would also be regulated in the same fashion. There was enough heated debate on the issue of banning foreign funding for religious seminaries, with religious political parties such as JUI-F taking the lead in the opposition to this proposal. A joint report by provincial police chiefs, presented to the Senate in January also put forth proof that 23 religious schools across Pakistan were getting funds from the Middle East, Iran and the Gulf states of Qatar, United Arab Emirates and Kuwait. In light of the fierce opposition it is heartening to witness that a middle ground could be sought and the TIM representatives had expressed their readiness to register themselves and have their accounts audited. It is important to realize that plans and policies like the NAP are all well in good, but they prove to render useless until there is support from the community to accept the law. Only the committed support of the religious leaders and Ulema will ultimately ensure the success or failure of the NAP. If the madrassah system is effectively regulated and its curriculum is streamlined according to the rest of the country, only then will we be able to bridge the great divide in ideology that constantly grips the country in a game of tug of war. In 2005 the Musharraf regime made an attempt to regulate seminaries; in 2010 a similar bid was made under the then PPP regime and now in 2015 we see the same process being repeated. There has been little analysis of why past attempts have floundered. There is little continuity of policy and we now seem to be starting all over again. The problems appear to be that those running seminaries are not willing to cooperate fully with the government in every case. This time too there have been objections to the registration process. Some agreements have been reached, but mistrust obviously exists. It is also a reality that seminaries meet the needs of a very large percentage of people. To effectively counter them, in the longer term, we need a policy to resurrect our public school system and make it a viable option for parents. There also has to be some decision on where seminaries stand in the education system with shorter-term planning then developed to control illegal activities at any of these institutions.
pk.shafaqna.com
