ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan has claimed that the government has reached an understanding with different madressah boards in the country over the question of regulation of seminaries, an impression that madressah officials do not fully agree with.

The minister also repeated his mantra, insisting that the militant Islamic State (IS) group had no presence in Pakistan, and said he had ordered action against the kidnappers of the former governor of Afghanistan’s Herat province, who was abducted from the capital on Friday.

Contending that Pakistan had been plagued by other terrorist groups in the past, he said the state was winning the war against such elements.

This latest denial comes on the heels of admissions by two senior security officials – the head of Intelligence Bureau and the military’s chief spokesperson – that the IS threat was looming large in the country.

Explore: No organised presence of IS in Pakistan, says FO

Minister hopeful about recovery of kidnapped Afghan governor

Speaking to reporters after a visit to Kallar Syedan on the outskirts of the capital, he said an understanding had been reached between the five madressah boards over the proposed reforms.

“Religious leaders in the country are standing with the government and we are telling the world that those who kill women, children and worshippers are doing Islam a great disservice,” he said.  

But other stakeholders in madressah reforms did not agree with the minister’s claim. A seminary official in Islamabad said there had been no progress on the issue and the five mainstream madressah boards — Deoband, Barelvi, Ahle Hadith, Shia and the Jamaat-i-Islami’s — had merely held several meetings with the interior ministry.

“We are holding meetings but the progress made so far cannot be called ‘success’,” said Nusrat Ali, who belongs to the Wafaqul Madaris Al Shia. “The only progress on the ground is that police are not conducting unwarranted raids on seminaries.”

Though not directly commenting on the interior minister’s statement, Wafaqul Madaris Al Arabia spokesperson Maulana Abdul Qudus supported the interior minister’s view that things were improving.

“[Seminaries and the government] are both on the same page over that fact that we have to be realistic, and we both are complementing each other’s efforts,” he said.

Seminary boards had been at odds with the government over the question of registration forms. Even though the matter was somewhat settled when it was decided that there would be two forms — one for new registration and another for annual declaration — it is still not clear which authority will administer this process.

The matter of the forms ping-ponged between various departments, including the religious affairs and interior ministries, before being forwarded to the provinces for feedback.

The five madressah boards, meanwhile, have demanded that they be dealt through the provincial education departments, since they are educational institutions. Sindh is the only province where a physical survey of madressahs, supported by teams of Rangers, has begun.

Separately, at a meeting called to review the law and order situation, the minister was told that police had made significant headway in the kidnapping of the former governor of the Afghan province of Herat.

A handout issued on Saturday said senior police officials, who briefed the interior minister, expected “good news” regarding the whereabouts of the abducted man soon. 

Published in Dawn, February 14th, 2016