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| Will Musharaf succeed in seminaries' registration? | | NEWS ANALYSIS | | B L KAK
NEW DELHI: Noises in Pakistan have become louder even after the reported understanding between Islamabad and managements of madrassas. If the soldier-President, Gen. Musharraf, set the tone for registration of all seminaries, the economist-Prime Minister, Shaukat Aziz, worked overtime to bring about the understanding.
However, Pakistan's political as well as official circles are reported to have adopted a cautious approach. Why so? One is not sure what will happen in the coming days and weeks. In fact, it remains to be seen whether the understanding reached between the government and madrassa managements will work and last. Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz sounded quite hopeful after his meeting with leaders of the Ittehad-i-Tanzeemat-i-Madaris-i-Deeniya (ITMD) in Islamabad not long ago.
According to Shaukat Aziz, the ITMD has agreed to the registration of 9,000 seminaries. On its part the government has expressed its willingness to make changes in the Registration of Societies' Act. If the process goes well, the seminaries operated by the ITMD should stand registered by December 31. That this legal requirement should have taken so long to be agreed upon shows the difficulties in the way. Registration had been talked about for a long time now, but little progress was made because of the government's diffidence on the issue.
The views expressed by madrassa officials seem to betray a lack of full understanding with the government. Mufti Munibur Rahman, head of the Tanzeemat-i-Madaris Ahl-i-Sunnat, sounded satisfied with the outcome of the meeting with the Prime Minister but hoped that the ulema's reservations would be taken into account. Equally emphatic on the issue was Maulana Mufti Abdur Rashid, the ITMD general secretary. He said the ITMD would not cooperate with the government until its reservations were incorporated into the proposed legislation. He also made it clear that the ITMD would not disclose its sources of funding. Besides, madrassa without hostels would not be registered, nor would every campus of a given madrassa. Both he and Mufti Munib also insisted that the doors of the madrassas should not be shut on foreign students, insisting that those with valid documents should be allowed to stay on. Shaukat Aziz has reportedly agreed to "look into it".
It will not be incorrect to say that a lot of ground remains yet to be covered before the registration process can make progress. The ulema's main reservations concern the comparative study of other religions and sects. Comparative religion is a standard discipline throughout the world, but it is taught to impart knowledge and not to foster prejudice and hatred.
Pakistan's English daily, Dawn, has already commented: "The truth is that some seminaries using the study of other sects and religions brainwash their students into hating other faiths. This is counter-productive and can hardly be called the function of an institution devoted to Islamic studies".
Reputed institutions of Islamic learning such as al-Azhar in Cairo and Darul Uloom-i-Deoband in India never conveyed a hate message to their pupils. That some madrassas here should indulge in this kind of parochialism is indeed deplorable. Madrassas have been in existence in South Asia for centuries as a source of knowledge and enlightenment. They have produced outstanding scholars and had nothing to do with any sort of militancy. The US-led 'jihad' against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan turned some Pakistani madrassas into recruitment centres and schools for political brainwashing. This has had disastrous consequences not only for Pakistan's political culture but also for the very fabric of society.
To rediscover the madrassas' traditional role, the government of Pakistan and the ulema have no other option but to cooperate on solving the issue amicably. The curricula in many madrassas, including Binnori Town, already include modern subjects; other seminaries, too, should be required to give their students a modern education so that on completion they can compete with others for employment. The registration issue must be solved to the satisfaction of both sides, and the government should not hesitate to take action against those resisting registration or disclosure of foreign funding. |
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