LAHORE– Special Representative to the Prime Minister on Religious Affairs Hafiz Tahir Mahmood Ashrafi Friday said all the Madaris boards and organisations in the country had the consensus that action should be taken under the law if any illegal activity took place in any Madrasa (religious seminary).
The people all over the world did commit crimes but their institutions were not held accountable and responsible on that account, he said addressing a press conference here at the Jamia Manzoor-ul-Islamiyah.
Tahir Ashrafi said the teacher concerned had been fired by the respective Madrasa for committing an illegal and immoral act. The institution had done its job as the religious class had nothing to do with ‘criminals’, he added.
He said normally about 1,000 to 5,000 students studied in a Madrasa with 300 to 400 teachers. There were 30,000 Madaris in the country where around 3 million students getting religious education.
An individual’s immoral act, he said, did not mean that everyone, whether a student or a teacher, was bad in Madaris. Some elements wanted to target the religious institutions on that pretext, which was not acceptable, he added.
Ashrafi suggested that a helpline should be set up, where a victim or anyone could report such incidents.
He said Prime Minister Imran Khan had rightly stated that the veil was mandatory according to the Holy Qur’an, but some people got hurt from it. “The Holy Qur’an ordains women to wear veils and men to lower their eyes,” he added. Men and women, he said, should wear suitable clothes.
He said the prime minister’s categoric statement on bases to the United States was the true reflection of the nation’s sentiments.
“Peace in Afghanistan is peace in Pakistan, “ he said, adding some 40 years had lapsed with strife in the neighbouring country. “We will not allow anyone’s land to be used against us, and our land to be used against anyone,” he added.
