Leaders of Wifaq ul Madaris Al-Arabia Pakistan — President Maulana Mufti Taqi Usmani, Vice President Maulana Anwarul Haq, and General Secretary Maulana Muhammad Hanif Jalandhri — have termed the statement of Federal Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif regarding religious seminaries as contrary to facts.
The leaders of Wifaq ul Madaris said that Khawaja Asif’s allegations of land grabbing by thousands of seminaries in Islamabad are completely baseless. They said the Defence Minister had presented incorrect figures, displaying extreme irresponsibility, while the reality is entirely different.
They further stated that the Afghan Jihad was a state policy and that seminaries should not be blamed for it. They added that terrorism and extremism in Pakistan — whether on religious, political, or ethnic grounds — are condemnable, but it is necessary to examine their real causes, and seminaries should not be unfairly targeted.
The leaders of Wifaq ul Madaris reminded that Khawaja Asif, some time ago, had described the students of seminaries as the second line of defence for the country, but now he is trying to put all the blame on them, which is extremely regrettable.
They demanded that Nawaz Sharif and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif take notice of this irresponsible and completely false statement by Khawaja Asif and ensure that government officials refrain from issuing such statements against religious seminaries in the future.
