'Mainstreaming' of madrasas: Fazl irked by DG ISPR's remarks

Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) President Maulana Fazlur Rehman on Monday said that the military spokesman has spoken on the matters which are not the security establishment's domain. Rehman, who is also the chief of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI-F), stated that military spokesperson's statement on government matters has proved MMA's stance that the military is running all the affairs of the government.
He said that Director General Inter-Services Public Relations (DGISPR) commented on the religious seminaries' matter, which is totally out of his purview, saying that the leadership of the seminaries is holding talks with the government over reforms, adding there was no talk on bringing the seminary system under the control of federal education ministry.
He claimed that all these steps against religious seminaries are being taken to get a loan from International Monetary Fund (IMF). He said, "We will not allow anybody to interfere in seminary educational system. Linking religious seminaries to terrorism activities has been proved false in the past... . We will not accept any dictation on the independence of religious seminaries; in the past we faced the British government and now we are ready to face the present government as well."
The ISPR chief has said that the Ministry of Education will devise the curriculum for religious seminaries and the religious seminaries are united on the issue that no one will be allowed to define curriculum for religious seminaries. He said there is no uniform curriculum for the educational institutions operating under the Ministry of Education, saying the formal educational sectors is teaching "rented" curriculum to students.
He said that extremism and terrorism have nothing to do with religious seminaries as it is a social issue, adding that the authorities must avoid putting the burden of their failure of past 70 years on religious seminaries.
He said the umbrella organisation of all the religious seminaries will not take part in negotiations with the government, saying that the government is deceiving the management of seminaries. The Maulana said that his party or any group in MMA has nothing to do with Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement (PTM), saying that the PTM is fighting against the state while the MMA is with the state. He, however, maintained if the state will take any step in wrong direction, his party will oppose all such steps as it did in the past.