PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s (KP) government has released another grant of Rs 270 million for Darul Uloom Haqqania, Nowshehra district run by the chief of its faction Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI), Maulana Sami-ul-Haq.
Earlier, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) government had given away a grant of Rs 300 million to Maulana Sami-ul-Haq, which had generated criticism from different walks of life and conflicting comments are now being made on the provincial government’s decision.
Nationalist analyst and leader of the Pakhtunkhwa Ollassi Tehrik, Dr Said Alam Mehsud while talking to this correspondent said that what Punjab is doing by banning Sepah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP) leaders, like Ahmad Ludyanvi and Malik Ishaq, is the same policy KP Chief Minister Pervez Khattak should adopt with Maulana Sami-ul-Haq.
Women rights activist Rukhshanda Naaz also condemned the act. She said that the Department of Religious and Minorities’ Affairs, called Auqaf always focus on spending its funds on Islamic seminaries and doesn’t give a single penny to non-Muslim religious institutions.
Performance Oriented Hi-tech Association (POHA), an organization striving for the promotion of education in KP, Baluchistan and Federally Administrative Tribal Area (FATA) supported the provincial government’s decision with some reservations.
“Seminary students also have rights on the state’s resources. Even these students are poor and deserving. But the government must ensure proper utilization of these funds,” said POHA in a statement.
POHA recalled that in 2011, the KP government through a law committed itself to the establishment of Children Welfare and Protection Centers (CP&PC) in all districts but so far these centres had only been established in 12 districts, and the provincial government did not give any attention to these centres.
Earlier, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Auqaf department has said that a summary was forwarded to CM Pervez for the release of Rs 277 million to Maulana Sami-ul-Haq’s seminary, Darul Uloom Haqqania, reported Geo News on late Thursday night.
For the year 2016-17, the KP government had allocated Rs300mn for the seminary, which also brought the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) under fire from the civil society and opposition parties.
After the latest release of funds, the official aid to the seminary will increase from Rs300 million to Rs577 million. The present move to allocate funds to the JUI-S chief’s seminary is an attempt to woo the JUI-S in the Senate polls, reported the outlet.
It may be mentioned here that the JUI-S is an ally of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) KP government.
KP Higher Education Minister Mushtaq Ghani could not confirm the release more funds to the seminary. He said that the KP government’s vision is to help other seminaries through the aid to Haqqania madrassah so that the students after completing studies have both formal and religious education and are not dependent on anyone.
