Saturday, September 24 2005 15:10 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Islamabad: Pakistan's madrassas have agreed to register themselves, receiving assurance from the Government that an amendment to remove the clause warranting the Islamic seminaries to disclose their funds will be brought about.

The Government has assured the Ittehad-e-Tanzeemat-e- Madars-e-Deenya (ITMD) that it would amend the Societies Registration Act of 1860, including omission of clauses regarding disclosure of its source of funds, ITMD General Secretary, Maulana Mufti Abdur Rashid told reporters.

The registrar would have no power to comment and reject the registration of a seminary, and madrassas without hostels would not need registration, he said.

The ITMD office bearers who met Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz yesterday (Sept 3, 2005) to announce their willingness to get their member madrassas to register, told media later that it had been agreed upon that seminaries were not bound to mention the details of their donors to the registrar.

Revelation of source of funds was considered a sensitive issue for madrassas, which get generous funds from Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries to run the seminaries, which educates over a million students, according to estimates.

Every seminary will report its educational performance and submit a copy of their annual audit report to the registrar and there will be no need for separate registrations for different campuses of the same seminary, Rashid said.

According to Pakistan officials, ITMD represented over 10,000 madrassas and an agreement with it was considered crucial for President Pervez Musharraf's campaign to reform the Islamic schools.