The Islamabad district administration has decided to close down at least 41 madrassas in the federal capital as part of security measures for the March 23 military parade.
The decision to close the madrassas was taken by the additional deputy commissioner and other security officials.
Police stations within the jurisdiction of the 41 seminaries have been instructed to enforce the closure. They include 18 seminaries of Police Station I-9, 14 of Abpara Police Station, 6 of Shahzad Town and 3 from Secretariat Police Station.
Sources said the seminaries will be shut from 18th till 24th March.
The government has recently taken action on the monitoring of funds for seminaries accused of promoting militancy and extremism.
Measures have been taken in the aftermath of the December 16th Taliban attack on a school in Peshawar in which over 140 people were killed, majority of them children.
In January, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan met with representatives of madressas who agreed that religious seminaries found involved in abetting terrorist activities would be dealt with in accordance with the law.
It was agreed in the declaration that a committee comprising federal and provincial departments and the Ittehad-i-Tanzeemaat-i-Madaris would be formed to prepare a comprehensive registration form to ensure registration of all seminaries.
Religious seminaries are now bound to submit audit reports of their accounts and any foreign funding would only come through official channels in a mode to be worked out by the government.
Tip of the Iceberg: – No one will notice the importance of this news. These 41 madrassas (religious schools) are in Islamabad (just one city); one can guess their number in Pakistan must be in 1000’s. They are temporarily being shut down for a military parade. Almost 40 years ago there were only a few 100 of them serving the poor children supported by the charities. Graduating students could only aspire to get a job of leading the prayers in some mosques for a meager stipend. Then 2 events occurred. Public school system of Pakistan collapsed & the Russians invaded Afghanistan. With Petrodollars pouring in, the number of these madrassas increased exponentially, and they became the hatcheries of the terrorists; in Afghanistan these students were called Taliban (literal meaning_ seekers of education). As long as these madrassas are not shut down & poor children are not provided the proper education in the Public Schools, Pakistan will fail to curb the lawlessness
Just a cosmetic action. It will not control anything. On the contrary, it will provide the clerics with an excuse to make some mischief and there shall be no dearth of sympathizers. Because of double-mindedness, perhaps the civilian authorities have lost all capacity to act against the fanatics, decisively.
The madrsass are being shut down for the army parade it means they are free to kill the other people. Therefore I would like to request to general raheell sharif that you are chief of protecting force of pakistan… how you sir allowing this double stander under your nose?? Im daring to request you as father of four small kids … they daily ….when goes school I never remain in ease till they come back.
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