Government’s concerns are not without merit
The twenty-point National Action Plan announced by the government also envisages registration and regulation of all the religious seminaries throughout Pakistan. Besides the setting up of military courts, this is perhaps the most important ingredient of the Plan because the country is confronted with religiously connected terrorism that has very strong and proven links with some of the seminaries that have mushroomed in the country since early 1980s in the wake of officially sponsored jihad in Afghanistan. One doesn’t need to go into details of what followed after this jihad movement. Suffice to say that whatever Pakistan is going through now was a sequel to the wrong and short-sighted policies of the military dictators. Our present reality was that Pakistan was about to burst at its seams and the biggest existentialist threat came from the phenomenon of terrorism and religious extremism. These seminaries have been providing manpower to the proscribed militant and jihadi outfits.
The most painful and sordid aspect of this threat was that it was being enacted in the name of religion, though in accordance with the distorted perception about it by the terrorists. In any case, it is a religiously inspired phenomenon. What happened at Jamia Hafsa in Islamabad in 2007 and the recent release of a video by female students of the Jamia in support of TTP, and Daish and its endorsement by Maulana Abdul Aziz, must be enough to open the eyes of every apologist and sympathiser of the terrorists, more so Maulana Fazlur Rehman and Amir Jamaat Islami who after having supported and approved the Plan are now backtracking from their commitment and reviling the government for mentioning religion in the war against terror. The TTP is committing acts of terrorism not to foist a secular ideology on the Pakistani society. It has a declared agenda to impose its own brand of Islam, rather a dogma in Pakistan. It is indeed regrettable to note that some religious scholars and leaders of religious parties still find it convenient to deny this cruel reality and claim that terrorism had nothing to do with religion and these seminaries were not involved in any terrorist activities.
Nobody is saying that all these seminaries or religious institutions are involved or had links with the terrorists and those resorting to sectarian killings. That makes even more necessary to register and regulate these seminaries to be able to make a distinction between the ones who are really serving the cause of religion and those who are abetting and siding with the elements out to destroy Pakistan through their nefarious plans.
Registration of any organisation or a party which is organised for any purpose and aim, even otherwise is a legal requirement in almost all the countries of the world including Pakistan and the government is responsible for making sure that those entities function within the ambit of law and do not preach or practise fissiparous and divisive ideologies that could harm the national unity or pose a threat to the integrity of the country.
The initiative to register and regulate seminaries is not out of this world and the institutions which are not linked with any terrorist or sectarian militant organisation do not need to fear the process of scrutiny. There is a national consensus on elimination of the scourge of terrorism from the country at all costs. It is therefore obligatory on all the political and religious entities to work collectively for achieving this objective and not try to create dissensions among the society or sabotage the national consensus on the issue.
Religious seminaries and institutions have a long history in the subcontinent as tools of education and have produced eminent religious scholars. They have been playing a sterling role in imparting religious knowledge to the youth and also guiding the society on religious matters which nobody could deny. Some of them are exceptional non-governmental entities engaged in providing food and shelter to the students from poorer sections of the society whose parents cannot not afford expensive education in the private educational institutions or public run school and colleges. In the Islamic Republic of Pakistan it is hard to contest their need and effectiveness not only in promoting religious values but also countering philosophies that contradict basic Islamic teachings.
The major concern, however, is about the seminaries disseminating culture of hate and religious extremism based on rejection of other beliefs, cultivation of non-tolerant and violent religious attitudes and radicalisation of the society. These philosophies are contrary to the Quranic injunctions and therefore could not be allowed to take roots in an Islamic Republic. According to the official sources there are at least 22,052 registered madaris in Pakistan and the number of the unregistered seminaries could well be more than the registered ones. There are 633 madaris in Islamabad only, out of which 446 are unregistered, which outnumber the government schools in the capital. What these institutions are capable of doing or are engaged in doing is quite evident from the activities of Jamia Hafsa.
Another phenomenon which has emerged with the mushroom growth of these religious schools is the ‘religious land mafia’. Most of these unregistered schools throughout the country are mostly built on government lands without permission or allotment of the land for the purpose. In Islamabad most of these seminaries have been constructed on green belts in defiance of the aesthetic and environmental concerns besides being an illegal undertaking. This culture of defying the state laws and taking matters in their own hands is a manifestation of their contempt for the laws and the instinctive streak of violence, a conduct very much in breach of the religious tenets. While the government needs to take a tough stance on this issue also, these religious institutions also need to introspect their antics that malign the great religion of Islam.
The foregoing realities are indeed very painful. While the government is absolutely right in thinking that if the phenomenon of terrorism is to be eliminated it is essential and inevitable to bring these religious institutions under the watchful eyes of the government, it needs to take due care in handling the issue because of its sensitivity. It would be advisable to keep the religious scholars on board while devising strategies for registration and regulation of the seminaries. Similarly, keeping the Wafaq-ul-Madaris in the loop could also help in warding off likely controversies on the issue. The seminaries which are not linked with any terrorist or extremist group could well be made part of the effort to develop counter-narrative to the narrative of the terrorists and the extremists.
