2,327 suspected seminaries sealed countrywide under NAP

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In this Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2015 photo, a Pakistani student of a madrassa, or Islamic school, sits on his bed rehearsing for his exam at the seminary dorms on the outskirts of Islamabad, Pakistan. There’s no exact number of madrassas in Pakistan but estimates put the number in the tens of thousands. They provide food, housing and a religious education to students from around the country. (AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen)

ISLAMABAD: According to a document of the Interior Ministry containing details of the National Action Plan (NAP) implementation, a total of 2,327 suspected religious seminaries have been shut down countrywide in connection with the implementation of the NAP.

“Suspected seminaries (madrassas) are those which militants use or those which entertain the activities of defunct organisations or suspected militants,” an an independent security analyst Mohammad Amir Rana explained while talking to a private news publication.

In light the latest data of the provincial governments shared with the federal government, out of these 2,327 madrassas, 2,311 have been closed in Sindh , while 13 madrassas have been sealed in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP); Punjab saw to the lowest rate of two madrassas.

Balochistan remained the weakest province in relation to action against ‘suspected’ madrassas, where only one madrassa has been shut down so far, the data disclosed.

The documents containing the details of NAP implementation revealed that governments of the federal territory Islamabad, Punjab and Sindh have completed 100% mapping of the seminaries.

Balochistan also remained the slowest among all the provinces in mapping action, where only 60pc of the mapping has been carried out. KP government has completed 75pc of the mapping whereas war-torn Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) has done 85pc of the mapping.