Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: The federal government has decided to devise a clear and comprehensive policy for religious seminaries that were receiving funding from abroad and in this regard the Ministry of Interior has prepared a list of 285 seminaries.

Official sources said under the National Action Plan, new policy would be devised with consultation of the provincial governments and administration of religious seminaries. After the return of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif from abroad, a high level meeting would be called on this issue, as the government wanted to discuss details of foreign funding of seminaries, sources disclosed.

According to documents available with Daily Times, 147 seminaries of Punjab, one of Sindh, 12 of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 30 of Balochistan and 95 of Gilgit Baltistan were getting funds from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, UAE, Kuwait, Iran, Turkey, Iraq, England, South Africa, and European countries, while one seminary was getting foreign funds from the USA.

Sources said Saudi Arabia and Iran were among the biggest donors for these seminaries while the Interior Ministry and security agencies failed to get the information regarding the amount given to these seminaries. So far no information has been provided on the training or technical support of students, teachers, curriculum as well as development of these seminaries, the sources added.

The report stated that 19 seminaries in Lahore, six each in Sheikhupura, Bahawalnagar and Toba Tek Singh, one each in Hafizabad, Gujranwala Attock and Chakwal, five in Rawalpindi, 25 in Faisalabad, 13 in Jhang, 10 in Chinot, seven in Sargodha, four each in Khushab, Mianwali, Bhakar, Multan, Sahiwal and Okara, two each in Kanewal, Pakpatan, Muzafargurh, Peshawar, Dir and Pubi, eight in Rahimyar Khan, five in Bahawulpur, one of DG Khan, 30 in Balochistan and 95 in Gilgit Baltistan were also in the list provided to the federal government.

It was disclosed in the report that 1,000 foreign students were studying in the seminaries of Balochistan, while some important religious personalities were also included in the list.

According to documents, seminaries headed by Mohammad Hanif Jalandri, Qari Karim Baksh, Allama Taqi Naqvi, Maulana Tariq Jameel, Hafiz Hussain Ahmad, Sheikh Abdul Baqi, Qari Abdullah Jan and Moulvi Obaidullah Jan were also getting foreign funds, mostly from Saudi Arabia, Middle East countries and Iran.