Madrassas registration centres to be established in all provinces: sources

ISLAMABAD: The federal government has decided to establish two registration each for all provinces in order to complete registration of madrassas (seminaries) across the country, ARY News reported on Wednesday.

Sources said that the government has increased its pace of work on registration of seminaries to put it into the mainstream.

One centre each will be established in Azad Jammu Kashmir (AJK) and Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) region, whereas, progress is likely in next week for affiliating madrassas with the Education Ministry, sources said.

The government was making all-out efforts to complete registration within one to 1.5 years.

The federal authorities have also held dialogues with Ittehad Tanzeemul Madaris where they considered mechanism to adjust chairman of seminaries’ boards. Moreover, Wafaqul Madaris Al-Arabia also summoned an important session on Wednesday (today).

On April 30, the federal authorities had compiled a report on geotagging and registration of madrassas (seminaries) across the country while making a step forward in bringing the religious institutions under the education ministry.

The National Counter Terrorism Authority (NACTA) has pulled socks up to complete registration and geotagging of religious seminaries, as well as compiled a comprehensive report for its progress, a copy of which obtained by ARY News.

Sources said that the report will be forwarded to all provinces. The seminaries will be brought under control of the Ministry of Education during the first phase of the process, sources added.

Read: Shafqat Mahmood asks madaris to register themselves with education ministry

The process of geotagging was made out in Punjab and Islamabad, the report said. The counter-terrorism authority has also completed geotagging of seminaries up to 85 per cent in erstwhile Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), 75 per cent in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), 80 per cent in Sindh and 60 per cent in Balochistan.

Moreover, NACTA officials claimed to have completed the registration of seminaries up to 90 per cent in Punjab in the report, whereas a new directorate will be established for new registrations.