Nawaz Sharif and General Raheel Sharif warned Madaaris for conducting terrorist activities

Islamabad: Senior civil and military leadership of the country has made it clear, in a meeting with the leaders of religious institutions/madaaris, that the government will register madaaris and will make sure that they are not involved in any suspicious activities, at any cost.

The attendees of the meeting, held on Monday, told that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and army Chief General Raheel Sharif also seemed to agree over the concerns of Ittehad al madaaris organization.

However, both the leaders clearly told people present in the meeting that madaaris involved in any kind of extremism or terrorism will not be tolerated.

Earlier, Chauhadray Nisar Ali Khan also had a two hour long meeting with the delegation of Ittehad al-Madaaris organization after which the delegation met with Nawaz Sharif and Raheel Sharif, in another two hour long meeting.

A senior official who has been playing an important role in the process of madaaris registration, told that the Interior Minister, Prime Minister and the army Chief made it clear that the government has started an unbiased operation against all madaaris that have links with terrorists.

Government official further told that Prime Minister also made it clear that if anyone thinks that madaaris in Punjab will be exempted from the operation then he is wrong.

An Aalim Sahibzada Abdul Mustafa Hazarwi, present at the meeting, told Dawn that his organization has concerns over the registration process and search operations on madaaris.
He further told that army chief and Prime Minister have assured that such operations will not be conducted in future.

However, General Raheel made it totally clear that madaaris violating the National Action Plan will have to face serious repercussions.

According to Hazarwi, attendees were told that provincial governments have been conducting these operations on their own and were assured that if a need to conduct any such operation will arise in future then the federal government will act as a coordinator.

Another person Dr. Syed Muhammad Najfi, who was also present at the meeting, said that unlike General Pervaiz Musharraf and PPP government, the current military and civil leadership is very serious regarding the registration of madaaris.

He told that the first questionnaire that was prepared by the government was very difficult and it had many irrelevant questions. The government has agreed to re-design the registration process under the leadership of Mufti Muneed ur Rehman due to our concerns and complains.