Daily Times

LAHORE: The Punjab government on Tuesday giving a clean chit to all educational institutes – including 15,000 madrassas – has declared that no seminary or public and private institute is involved in teaching hate material to students.

During the Punjab Assembly session on Tuesday, Law Minister Rana Sanaullah while commenting on a resolution moved by a treasury member Ms Hina Pervez Butt informed the House that the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N)-led Punjab government had registered all 15,000 madrassas, including 532 existing in ‘Gray Areas’ of the province.

Rana Sanaullah confirmed that as many as 1.1 million students were enrolled in madrassas in which around 0.4 million students are enjoying boarding facilities, while 1300 students belong to foreign countries.

Assuring the syllabus of all madrassas was unbiased; the law minister said that any hatred chapter, sentence or a word, if identified by legislators, would be removed from the syllabus of madrassas.

The minister also advised his female colleague to withdraw her resolution that was accepted by the mover without any argument.

In another resolution, seeking removal of logos of private educational institutes from note books, the government said that it could not advise any private educational institute, especially those running O-Level or A-Level classes, not to use logos, but assured that the government would regulate prices of books.

Punjab Assembly session on Tuesday started an hour and five minutes late to its scheduled time at 10am with Speaker Rana Iqbal in the chair. The joint opposition continued its boycott till second day and did not participate in the proceedings.

Rana Sanaullah along with other ministers held negotiations with Opposition Leader Mian Mehmoodur Rasheed in his chamber, who agreed to hold a meeting with the speaker to sort out their reservations.

After successful talks, the opposition ended its boycott. The speaker welcomed the opposition and informed the House that all misunderstandings had been removed.

The House also passed two resolutions moved by Dr Aliya Aftab and Dr Nausheen Hamid for installation of water treatment plants and construction of services lanes for motorcyclists and cyclists to make traffic flow better, respectively.

Pertinent to mention here that during the boycott of the session, the joint opposition members held a protest against the speaker outside the assembly building and demanded him to take action on the reference filed against Punjab Chief Minister Mian Shahbaz Sharif for alleged illegal relocation of sugar mills of his family members in cotton areas.

The opposition leader said that the chief minister had flouted the Lahore High Court (LHC)’s order in this regard and he should step down from his office.