Interim Sindh govt to conduct third-party audit of Auqaf dept’s earnings

The incumbent caretaker Sindh government has decided to conduct a third-party audit of the earnings of the provincial Auqaf department.

This was disclosed by Minister for Law, Religious Affairs, Human Rights and Auqaf Minister Barrister Muhammad Omer Soomro, while speaking at a press conference along with Information Minister Muhammad Ahmed Shah, on Tuesday.

The law minister said the caretaker government had also started the process of rationalising the rent received by the Auqaf department through its leased and rented properties to ensure that this earning increased as per the prevailing market rates.

He mentioned that the Auqaf department had been receiving very little money from its rented and leased properties worth billions of rupees. Barrister Soomro said religious shrines in the province had been asked to maintain a proper account for depositing the donations they received from their visitors.

To a question, he told media persons that a guideline had been prepared for the shrines for transparent and judicious spending of public donations received by them. He said that separate spaces were being reserved at mosques and shrines managed by the Auqaf department as prayer areas for woman visitors. He said the religious affairs department had conducted programmes on various important aspects and events of Islam.

He said the government had been trying to bring transparency to the affairs of the Auqaf department. He praised the previous regime for conducting biometric verification of Zakat beneficiaries in the province to ensure Zakat payment to bona fide registered families.

Barrister Soomro said special scholarships would be given to students who would research various aspects of human rights-related laws of the land. He said that a cell centre would be activated to receive complaints related to violations of human rights.