GUJRAT: There are over 2,000 unregistered mosques in the district, according to the survey reports submitted by various law enforcement agencies to the government.

Official sources told Dawn on Thursday only 323 mosques and 313 seminaries were registered with the district government which was continuing with its registration drive.

The revenue department which should have the relevant data, reportedly did not conduct any independent survey in this regard.

According to the LEAs survey, including police, the total number of (both registered and unregistered) mosques in the district was 2,409 and of the seminaries around 317. Besides, there are also 137 Imam Bargahs (Shia mosques) in the district.

There are around 30 churches in the district, the police survey report says.

These figures were gathered by the LEAs and the local administration as per the directions in the National Action Plan.

A district government official told Dawn that the process of the registration of the mosques and seminaries had already been launched in collaboration with the officials of the counter terrorism department (CTD), special branch, local police and the land revenue department across the district.

However, because of what seems to be lack of coordination among various departments, no consolidated figures could be gathered.

A senior police official said the managements of religious institutions seldom bothered to get them registered which was a legal requirement.

He said the police had completed the hectic exercise of collecting the data of these religious institutions so that the an effective security plans could be evolved on its basis.

Meanwhile, the district police have provided stationery to all 22 police stations of the district for the next six months so that complainants could be saved from the exploitation in this regard.

It is a routine in almost every police station that complainants are asked to buy stationery required for filing a complaint or registration of an FIR etc.

The station house officers and sub-divisional police officers have also been provided new official cell numbers that will remain operative round the clock.

District Police Officer Rai Ijaz Ahmed handed over the stationery to the concerned officials at a meeting in the Police Lines on Wednesday and said the step would help change the police station culture.

He also told the police officers to ensure provision of a citizen feedback form to each complainant visiting the police station.

Published in Dawn, February 14th, 2015

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