Dispelling the impression of any divide on registration of Deeni Madaris (religious seminaries), federal minister for Religious Affairs and Inter-faith Harmony Sardar Muhammad Yousaf Sunday said there was complete unanimity among ulema of almost all schools of thought on the issue. He said a new proforma had been finalized which would be used to start process of their registration. “A complete unanimity had emerged among ulema belonging to almost all schools of thought on the issue in a recently held meeting and we have been working with honesty and dedication hence no issue would be left unaddressed,” he told APP in an interview here. Sardar Yousaf said the process of registration would be carried out by the Ministry of Interior in coordination with the concerned provincial governments. “Special curriculum is being devised for Deeni Madaris across the country ” he added.”Ministry of Religious Affairs with the help of Education authorities are devising special curriculum whereby sufficing the need of religion as well as worldly education, said the minister. This is a good step, as it means better monitoring of what is taught in the madaras. However, one can only applaud this, once something concrete comes to light, as well as the nature of the new curriculum. Even after 10 months of the announcement of NAP, the federal government has yet to start the process of registration of madrassas throughout the country, a basic point to introduce reforms in seminaries. According to rough figures collected by the Ministry of Interior, around 30 million students study in 18,000 madrassas in the country that are being run under Ittehad-e-Tanzeematul Madaris (ITM), a body of madrassas representing five major schools of thought. The government has to make sure that when one curriculum will be created, it must not sideline or crush other schools of thought, or sects. It is not understandable how they can create this curriculum, without turning the system into a more secular and liberal version of itself. According to some estimates, there are some 35,000 madrassas operating in the country, yet there is no record of the registered and unregistered madrassas. Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, claims that a committee having representatives of ITM and the departments concerned had been formed to finalise a registration form of seminaries. However there has been no progress on it.A significant number of madrassas are recruitment centers for terrorist organisations, breeding future militants through teachings based upon on distorted, fundamentalist Islamic views funded by questionable sources. Not all seminaries have fundamentalist curriculums or extremist agendas and some, if not most, are actually doing good work. However, given the current security climate, registration has become essential, and resistance at the idea is suspicious. The clerical establishment can no longer expect to operate without transparency and accountability. They — for better or worse — educate millions of children and the state is right to require uniform standards of education.
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