KARACHI: Upset over the previous governments’ lackadaisical attitude, Pakistan’s religious scholars said that while Prime Minister Imran Khan shows promise in making religious schools a part of the mainstream educational framework, it’s unlikely his plans will be brought to fruition.
Khan has repeatedly called for reforms in the education system to bring the seminaries, also known as madrassas, in line with the modern education system.
Last week, during a meeting with the delegation of the Ittehad-e-Tanzeemat-e-Madaris-e-Deeniya Pakistan, an alliance of religious schools in the country, Khan had said that uniformity in the basic educational system was imperative to work toward nation building. The delegation was headed by Mufti Muneeb-ur-Rehman and comprised heads of all madrassa boards, while the premier was accompanied by federal ministers of education, religious affairs and a coterie of other officials.
Yaseen Zafar, head of the Wafaqul Madaris Al Salfia — the board of religious seminaries representing the Salafi school of thought — told Arab News that Khan’s government and past leaders, including former Prime Ministers Nawaz Sharif, Benazir Bhutto “were also sincere in their efforts to mainstream the seminaries,” adding that the madrassas never opposed the plans either.
“It’s the bureaucracy, which hampers the process by raising objections to the key demand of registration of the board,” Zafar said, adding that he feared Khan’s plans would meet a similar fate.
Aamir Tauseen, former chairman of the Pakistan Madrassa Education Board, agrees that when it comes to meeting the demands of clerics, specifically granting them the status of official education boards, the bureaucracy has always raised various objections, treating religious schools as unequal or as a hotbed for terrorism. “Since they are educated through the modern system, they have a specific mentality and consider the religious schools backward,” he said.
Taking cognizance of the issues discussed, Khan said: “It was unjust to ignore the contributions of madaris (seminaries) and associate them with terrorism.”
Maulana Hanif Jalandhari, chief of Wafaqul Madaris Al-Arabia Pakistan (the board of Arabic religious seminaries of Pakistan), said that in the meeting with the prime minister, it was decided that all measures agreed upon with the previous governments would be implemented.
He added that Khan had formed a committee comprising ministers of education and religious affairs which, “after consultation with the madrassa leadership would draft the recommendations”.
Detailing the limitations of including the seminaries in the mainstream educational framework, Jalandhari said: “To us, the madaris are already mainstreamed as they’re imparting Islamic education in a country, which was carved out of (pre-partition) India for implementation of Islamic teachings. For the government, however, the mainstreaming is that graduates of madrassas should be able to work in other fields of life. For this, the madrassas will have to start teaching English language, science, mathematics and social studies. In return, the government will have to recognize our degrees.”
One solution to the problem could be if “the basic education in schools and madrassas is the same till grade 10,” he said, adding that: “The religious seminaries should teach modern subjects whereas modern schools should incorporate religious subject in their syllabus.”
Tauseen said the timeline of efforts for mainstreaming madrassas dates backs to the 1970s when an educational commission headed by Air Marshal Noor Khan recommended introducing modern subjects in religious seminaries.
In 1974, after the recommendations failed to see the light of day, all five boards were accredited by the University Grant Commission of Pakistan, which accepted the highest madrasa degree of “Shahadat Aalia” as equal to a Master of Arts (MA), Tauseen said.
“Almost every government formed a commission in this regard but in vain. In 1999, Mahmood Ahmed Ghazi recommended the establishment of a Pakistan Madrassa Education Board, which was setup in 2001. This board was aimed at mainstreaming the madrassas but all five boards rejected the proposal,” he said.
Tauseen, who took charge of the board in August 2014, said that it remained dysfunctional for 11 years primarily due to the “adverse attitude of the Religious Affairs Ministry”.
Inclusion of the madrassas in the mainstream became a part of the National Action Plan, which was formulated in the aftermath of the December 2014 attack on the Peshawar Army Public School. “Several meetings of different committees, education ministry, National Anti-Terrorism Authority and Interior Ministry were held and I, being head of the Pakistan Madrasa Board, was part of all of them. Several recommendations were prepared; however, with a change of government none were implemented,” he said.
Citing a lack of coordination and understanding as the main reasons for the delay in the implementation of plans, Tauseen suggested that madrassas should first have the complete data on hand, which should be shared with the government, as the first step toward mainstreaming. This could be followed up with the introduction of a uniform syllabus in the second phase.
There are three types of seminaries: Maktabs (schools for day scholars), madrassas (seminaries with boarding and lodging) and darul uloom (seminaries for higher studies). Together, they are responsible for more than 37,000 institutions, with nearly 4 million students acquiring education from them.
Jalandhari said that around 30,000 madrassas are registered with the five boards representing various schools of thought in Islam. Abdul Kabir Qazi, home secretary of the Sindh province, said there are a total of 10,033 madrassas in Sindh out of which 7,724 are operational while 2,309 were shut down after the geo-tagging exercise. “We have registered all the seminaries in Sindh province,” Qazi told Arab News. “All the madrassas in the province have been geo-tagged,” he added.
Wakeel Ahmed Khan, former secretary of religious affairs, refutes the allegations and instead blames the ‘inconsistency of policies’ of the succeeding governments for hampering the development of the madrassas.
“For mainstreaming madrassas, modern disciplines should be taught and religious education should be an additional focus,” the former secretary told Arab News.
Drawing a comparison with the religious seminaries in the UK, he said: “They are accredited with the UK education boards on their terms and simultaneously to their branches in Pakistan… they have accepted this mainstreaming happily.”
Pakistani scholars question PM Khan’s plans to reform madrassas
Pakistani scholars question PM Khan’s plans to reform madrassas
- Previous governments unsuccessful in mainstreaming seminaries despite detailed plans
- Move to ensure religious schools are on par with those providing modern education
Thirteen dead after naval vessel hits passenger boat off Mumbai
- The navy said 99 people were rescued with efforts ongoing for others
- Local TV channels showed a boat carrying at least five people hitting the passenger vehicle, causing the accident
MUMBAI: At least 13 people died when a boat with more than 100 passengers capsized off the coast of India’s financial capital Mumbai after colliding with an Indian Navy boat on Wednesday, officials said.
The navy said 99 people were rescued with efforts ongoing for others.
“An Indian Navy craft lost control while undertaking engine trials in Mumbai Harbor due to engine malfunction. As a result, the boat collided with a passenger ferry which subsequently capsized,” the Navy said in a statement on X.
Local TV channels showed a boat carrying at least five people hitting the passenger vehicle, causing the accident.
“The speedboat crashed into our boat and water started entering our boat and it overturned. The driver asked us to wear lifejackets,” a passenger on board the vessel told ABP Majha news channel.
“I swam for fifteen minutes before I was rescued by another boat,” said the passenger, who did not identify himself.
The privately-owned passenger boat, called Neelkamal, was heading toward the Elephanta caves, a popular tourist destination off the coast of Mumbai, when it capsized, BMC said.
The caves, which see a steady stream of tourists through the year, are a UNESCO heritage site and were constructed in the 5th-6th centuries A.D.
Boats from the Gateway of India, Mumbai’s southernmost point, make regular trips to ferry tourists to the site, an hour away.
Teenager pleads not guilty to murder of 3 girls that sparked UK riots
- Axel Rudakubanais accused of murdering Bebe King, 6, Elsie Dot Stancombe, 7, and Alice Dasilva Aguiar, 9, at a Taylor Swift-themed dance event
- The crime horrified the nation and was followed by days of nationwide rioting
LONDON: A British teenager on Wednesday had not guilty pleas entered on his behalf to charges of murdering three young girls in a knife attack in northern England in July, a crime that horrified the nation and was followed by days of nationwide rioting.
Axel Rudakubana, 18, did not speak when asked at Liverpool Crown Court if he was guilty or not guilty of killing Bebe King, 6, Elsie Dot Stancombe, 7, and Alice Dasilva Aguiar, 9, who were at a Taylor Swift-themed dance event in the town of Southport.
Not guilty pleas were also entered over charges of 10 attempted murders, producing the deadly poison ricin and the possession of an Al-Qaeda training manual, under a procedure known as mute of malice where a defendant refuses to speak.
His trial is due to start on Jan. 20 and last for four weeks. Judge Julian Goose confirmed with Rudakubana’s lawyer Stan Reiz that “there will be no positive case advanced” on Rudakubana’s behalf.
During Wednesday’s short hearing, British-born Rudakubana, who appeared by videolink from prison, showed no emotion, staring straight ahead and occasionally rocking from side to side.
Rudakubana, who was 17 at the time of the incident, was arrested shortly after the attack on the summer vacation event for children in the quiet seaside town north of the city of Liverpool. Police have said the incident was not being treated as terrorist-related.
Large disturbances broke out in Southport after false reports spread on social media that the suspected killer was a radical Islamist migrant.
The disturbances spread across Britain with attacks on mosques and hotels housing asylum seekers, with Prime Minister Keir Starmer blaming the riots on far-right thuggery.
More than 1,500 people were arrested, with prosecutors bringing over 1,000 charges as the authorities took tough action to curb the disorder.
A report by the police watchdog, His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS), said on Wednesday that officers had displayed immense bravery in the face of extreme violence.
But it added that intelligence failure meant the scale of the disorder was not predicted and forces needed to be better prepared to deal with serious violence.
Christmas miracle: Filipina Mary Jane Veloso returns home after 15 years on death row in Indonesia
- Mary Jane Veloso was returned to the Philippines through a transfer deal with Indonesia
- She and her family are asking for clemency from President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
MANILA: After almost 15 years in prison, a Filipino woman who was spared from execution on drug trafficking charges in Indonesia returned to her homeland on Wednesday, with her family preparing to spend Christmas together next week.
Mary Jane Veloso, who will turn 40 next month, was arrested in 2010 at an airport in Yogyakarta for allegedly smuggling 2.6 kg of heroin from Malaysia into Indonesia.
While she denied the charge and has always maintained that she was tricked by a recruiter to bring a suitcase with the drugs hidden in its seams, she was convicted and sentenced to death but received a last-minute reprieve from execution by firing squad in 2015.
Veloso’s repatriation was made possible by a “practical arrangement” for the transfer of prisoners between Indonesia and the Philippines, which their officials signed on Dec. 6.
“I’m very happy that I’m finally back to our country,” she told reporters in Manila.
“My plea to President (Ferdinand Marcos Jr.) is he can hopefully grant me clemency so I can be with my family. I’ve been in prison for 15 years in Indonesia for a crime I didn’t commit.”
Her transfer removes the possibility of execution, as the predominantly Catholic Philippines has long abolished the death penalty.
She had a tearful reunion with her family at a prison facility she was brought to after arriving in the Philippines, as relatives and a small group of supporters gathered with banners and flowers to welcome her.
“I’m very happy because for the almost 15 years she was in prison, we hadn’t had the chance to spend time with her. Now we can be with her, the whole family … It’s a miracle,” said Celia Veloso, her 65-year-old mother.
“Our plan really is to spend Christmas here with her,” she added. “Her siblings have already made their plan and they have prepared their gifts for her. Even her children are also looking forward to it.”
Veloso’s two sons were 1 and 6 years old when she was arrested in 2010.
“I hope that it won’t take too long for her to get clemency … Mary Jane has been in jail a long time. I hope the president will give it to us as a Christmas present.”
Indonesia, which has one of the world’s harshest anti-narcotics laws, had previously said it would respect any decision made by the Philippines, including if Veloso were given clemency.
“I could not think of any better time for her to come home, given the Filipino tradition of celebrating the season and the spirit behind it,” Edre Olalia, a lawyer in Veloso’s legal team, told Arab News.
“I believe it is a miracle in a sense, and … the best Christmas gift because you cannot quantify the happiness and the joy of being reunited (with family).”
According to protocol, Veloso has to spend five days in quarantine following her arrival but will be able to spend Christmas Eve together with her family, said (Retd.) Gen. Gregorio Catapang, director-general of the Bureau of Corrections.
Justice Undersecretary Raul Vasques said Veloso’s return was “a beautiful gift” for the country.
“It’s a fitting gift during Christmas time, and we cannot say more. This is the result of more than 10 years of diplomatic efforts with the country of Indonesia, and the stars aligned, so to speak, that now we have achieved what we have long hoped for — the return of Mary Jane Veloso.”
Her case had sparked numerous protests in both Indonesia and the Philippines, where people demanded Jakarta spare her from the firing squad. The Philippine government has also sought clemency for Veloso in high-level bilateral meetings, including when former President Joko Widodo visited Manila in January.
For her family, the long wait for Veloso’s return is now over.
“Finally, she is here in the Philippines,” said her 22-year-old son, Mark Daniel Veloso Candelaria.
“We hope that our beloved president will grant the clemency that our family is asking for so that we can spend Christmas and New Year together.”
Russia detains suspect in general’s killing: investigators
MOSCOW: Russia said on Wednesday it had detained a citizen of Uzbekistan who had confessed to planting a bomb which killed Lt. Gen. Igor Kirillov in Moscow a day earlier on the instructions of Ukraine’s security service.
Kirillov, who was chief of Russia’s Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Protection Troops, was killed outside his apartment building along with his assistant when a bomb hidden in an electric scooter went off.
He was the most senior Russian military officer to be assassinated inside Russia by Ukraine. Ukraine’s SBU intelligence service, which accused Kirillov of being responsible for the use of chemical weapons against Ukrainian troops, something Moscow denies, took responsibility for the killing.
Russia’s Investigative Committee, which probes serious crimes, said in a statement on Wednesday that the unnamed suspect had told them during questioning that he had come to Moscow where he had received an improvised explosive device for the hit.
The statement said he had described how he had placed the device on an electric scooter which he had parked outside the entrance of the apartment block where Kirillov lived.
Investigators cited him as saying that he had set up a surveillance camera in a hire car nearby and that the organizers of the assassination, who he said had been based in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro, had used the camera to track Kirillov and remotely detonated the device when he had left the building.
The statement said the suspect, who was born in 1995, had been offered $100,000 for his role in the murder and residency in a European country.
Investigators said they were identifying other people involved in the hit and the daily Kommersant newspaper reported that one other suspect had been detained. Reuters could not independently confirm that.
Malaysia foreign minister to be fined for smoking at eatery
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s foreign minister will be issued a fine for puffing a cigarette in a non-smoking area, the country’s health minister said Wednesday.
Health Minister Dzulkefly Ahmad earlier this week reposted a photo of Foreign Minister Mohamad Hasan smoking at a street-side eatery in the Malaysian state of Negeri Sembilan.
Smoking in all eateries and restaurants was declared illegal in Malaysia in 2019 and further strict measures were introduced in October this year.
“The Foreign Minister’s office has been informed of this matter,” Dzulkefly said on social media platform X on Wednesday, adding that the foreign minister himself wanted to be issued a fine for the offense.
Under Malaysian law, people caught smoking in prohibited areas can face a fine of up to 5,000 ringgit ($1,120).
Mohamad apologized on Wednesday and said he had received a violation notice from health authorities but that the fine amount was not yet determined.
“If it has become a concern and an issue among the public, I would like to sincerely tender my apology,” he was quoted as saying in The Star newspaper.
“I will pay the fine, and I hope it will not be too high.”
The photo of Mohamad smoking at the eatery had sparked outrage online this week.
“Whether you’re a minister... or a VVIP, wrong is still wrong. No one is above the law,” said one X user.
Another said: “Lawmakers and (law) enforcement authorities who break laws should be punished more severely than the public.”
