ISLAMABAD – Interior Minister Rehman Malik informed the National Assembly on Monday that the government, in collaboration with madaris organisations, would launch a de-radicalisation programme for jails, as they were harbouring militants. He was responding to a question regarding the achievement of the targets in the light of recommendations made by Jail Reforms 1997.
The National Assembly was told that the Punjab government had not fully achieved the objectives and targets set by the Jail Reforms 1997. The Punjab government told the National Assembly through the Ministry of Interior that the provincial government was not considering any proposal to upgrade the jails in the province under the guidelines of United Nation Organisation.
The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government said in a written reply that it had achieved several of the targets, while the governments of Sindh and Balochistan did not respond to the question sent to them by the Interior Ministry. Responding to another query on reforms in madaris, Malik said the leadership of Ittehad Tanzeemat-e-Madaris Pakistan (ITMP) had signed an agreement with the government for bringing reforms in the madrassas.
He said according to an agreement, madaris would not only include compulsory contemporary subjects in their curricula, but would also not teach or publish any literature which could promote militancy or spread sectarianism.
Law Minister Babar Awan told the House that as many as 6,273 projects of ERRA at a cost of Rs 120 billion were still under construction. PML-Q’s Ameer Muqam and PML-N’s Murtaza Javed Abbasi said the projects in the earthquake-hit areas had to be completed by June 2011, while until now, only 25 percent of the work had been completed.
