‘23 Madaris receive foreign funding’

ISLAMABAD: The Senate was informed on Friday that only 23 religious seminaries in three provinces — minus the Punjab — were receiving foreign funding, as the Punjab IGP denied that any of the seminaries in the province had received funds from abroad.
Minister of State Balighur Rehman shared this information with the Senate and said according to the information received so far from the provincial governments, as many as 12 Madaris in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province were receiving funding from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.
He continued likewise nine Madaris in Balochistan and two in Sindh were also receiving foreign funding from foreign countries, including Iran. The minister pointed out that Madaris were registered under various laws, including the Companies Ordinance 1984, Trust Act 1882, Societies Registration Act 1860, Voluntary Social Welfare Agencies (Registration and Control Ordinance 1961), Charitable and Religious Trust Act 1920, Musalman Waqf Act 1913 and Charitable Endowments Act.
“The laws are now devolved to the provinces in the post-18th Amendment arrangement. There is sufficient control and vigilance within these laws to monitor the working of Madaris, including checking their financial sources and conducting audit,” he noted.
The minister pointed out that implementation rested with the provincial governments.Earlier, angry lawmakers stormed out of the Senate over the absence of Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan and his deputy (minister) during the question hour, alleging this shows non-seriousness and incompetence of the rulers to fight anti-terrorism war.
PPP’s Syeda Sughra Imam’s question whether it was a fact that some seminaries received financial and other support like training of teachers, clerics and curriculum development from some Islamic countries, was the first to be asked during the question hour. She said hers was the question, which had been with the Senate and the government for over a year.
Mian Raza Raza Rabbani and Muhammad Zahid Khan castigated the government and its ministers for their absence from the Senate. Rabbani noted that while the government itself admitted Pakistan was in a state of war, its federal minister was an absconder while the junior minister was unconstitutionally sitting in four provincial education ministers’ meeting.
It was the 110th and penultimate session before the Senate elections are held to elect 52 senators, as half of 104 senators will retire on March 11.He pointed out under the 18th Amendment, education was a provincial subject and hence no minister from the federal cabinet could be a part of it. On this, Sabir Baloch, who chaired the session, said Interior Minister Nisar had in writing informed about his engagement in Karachi, where Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was to chair an important meeting.
Opposition senators agitated on the outright refusal of Minister of State for Interior Balighur Rehman, who was brought to the House during 30-minute suspension of the proceedings, to confirm whether or not certain religious seminaries in Punjab received financial aid from some Muslim countries and other institutions.
As the opposition senators made exit from the Senate, ANP’s Muhammad Zahid Khan returned to point out lack of quorum; bells were rung but this failed to ensure presence of minimum 26 members to complete the quorum as only 22 senators were present at that time, forcing the chair to suspend the sitting for half an hour.
“Seminaries are now a provincial subject and IGP Punjab has in writing told us that no seminary receives foreign aid and other provinces too have shared information on the issue and that is all,” the minister asserted, as Leader of Opposition Aitzaz Ahsan and Mian Raza Rabbani asked him to make statement in the House on Punjab IGP’s information.
Aitzaz and Rabbani asked the minister not to beat about the bush and tell in plain words was there any evidence of foreign aid being received by seminaries in Punjab. They even asked the minister to just reply in yes or no, but he declined to do so either.
When the minister was not ready to plainly tell about the issue of foreign funding to seminaries, Rabbani questioned the government’s ability to fight the war against terrorism and implement the National Action Plan.
“They should resign. The government is so incompetent and the Ministry of Interior for they don’t know even the fact that seminaries in Punjab get foreign aid. How are you going to wage a big war this way,” charged Rabbani.
As the minister again and again repeated his statement and desisted from giving a statement on IGP’s information on seminaries, Aitzaz contended was there any sense in having ministers in big number in the House, who did not offer correct replies to questions.
On this, Railways Minister Khawaja Saad Rafique rose but only to clarify that the opposition might have complaint about a minister, but they should not target the entire cabinet.
On the insistence of Aitzaz, Rabbani, Afrasiab Khattak and Zahid, Sabir referred the issue of ‘misleading’ information by the Punjab IGP on foreign funds to Punjab seminaries to the House privilege committee.
Opposition senators, including Sughra Imam, insisted that the interior minister had held meetings with ambassadors of the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Iran on how to stop foreign funding to seminaries then how could the Punjab IGP say that no foreign aid was being received by any seminary in the province. A mention of JUI’s Khushab seminary and Minhajul Quran was also made on the occasion in this connection.
Even on this, Baligh contended that the Punjab IGP himself was responsible for the information he had shared with the federal government.The minister said that under the National Action Plan, the government intended to register all seminaries in order to bring them into mainstream.
To a question, Information and Broadcasting Minister Pervaiz Rashid told the House that the draft code of conduct for the electronic media had been formulated following consultations with the stakeholders.He said Unesco had provided $11.9 million for preservation and conservation of the World Heritage sites in Pakistan.
The House adopted a unanimous condolence resolution on the demise of King of Saudi Arabia Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz. Leader of the House offered dua for the departed soul. The resolution was moved by Leader of the House Raja Muhammad Zafarul Haq to convey the heartfelt condolences to the bereaved family and people of Saudi Arabia.
While expressing sorrow and grief, the House noted the late king was a sincere and reliable friend of Pakistan, and Pakistanis would always cherish the warm support he had extended to the country in every hour of need.The senators also offered fateha for the departed soul of former minister Kalsoom Saifullah.