Pakistan struggles to register madrasas

Pakistani authorities are struggling to register madrasas under the National Action Plan in the Punjab province, officials said.

“This won’t be completed anytime soon. Some madrasas are not cooperating,” said a government official.According to official data, the Deobandi sect in Punjab was running the highest number of unregistered madrasas. 3,014 out of a total of the 6,106 madrasas under its control are unregistered.

There were 2,950 unregistered schools under the supervision of the Brelvi sect, which is operating a total of 6,606 schools. Only 83 Shia schools are unregistered out of total 230. The number of such seminaries under the Ahle Hadith sect is 408 out total 840.

Officials involved in talks between the government and the representatives of religious schools said efforts to draw a registration mechanism had not progressed for the last six months.

Out of total 13, 782 religious schools in Punjab, 6,479 are still unregistered, while an almost equal number of seminaries in other province are also yet to be brought under federal regulation.

Over one million students are getting religious education in seminaries in Punjab alone. This also includes 966 foreign students.

The main disagreement is over the registration form, which also requires the heads of religious schools to disclose their sources of funding among other details.

It has been learnt that a committee formed under the federal ministry of religious affairs to sort out the issue has not met in the last six months.

A controversial statement by a federal minister against the religious schools issued in May 2015 has reportedly stalled the negotiation process.

“We have submitted our recommendations on the registration mechanism to the federal government which has not yet completed its homework,” Qari Hanif Jalandhari, member of the supreme council of Tanzeemat-e-Madaris Pakistan, said, throwing the ball into the federal government’s court.