BHUBANESWAR: Muslim clerics on Thursday announced to voluntarily seek registration of all madrasas in the State and strengthen monitoring of such institutions.
The representative body of clerics Jamiat-Ulama-I-Hind (JUIH) has, however, voiced opposition to the inspection of unregistered madrasas by police and administration in different districts in the wake of the arrest of suspected Al Qaeda operative Maulvi Abdul Rehman Kataki who ran a seminary at Tangi in Cuttack district.
“The recent arrest of the Maulvi on alleged terror links from no other place than Cuttack is really shocking. But this one-off incident should not be used to label the whole community or the madrasas. Odisha has always been a peaceful State and the Muslims living here are fierce patriots,” general secretary of (JUIH) Maulana Hakimuddin Qasmi told mediapersons here on Thursday.
Qasmi attended a meeting of clerics and functionaries of madrasas from different parts of the State at Capital Mosque here, which discussed the developments in the wake of Rehman’s arrest and the pathetic conditions in which his madrasa was functioning.
It is not mandatory for madrasas to get registered in the State. But the JUIH will take the lead to get all unregistered institutions enlisted so that there would be a proper record of them. Besides, steps would be taken to monitor the functioning as well as ensure minimum basic facilities for the students in the institutions, the clerics stated.
“We pledge full cooperation to investigations by police and administration in the matter. But they should exercise caution so that our community and its institutions are not labelled or shown in bad light. We will soon meet DGP in this connection and have also sought appointment with Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to discuss the issue,” general secretary of Jamiat-Ulama-I-Odisha, Mufti Md Ashraf Ali Qasmi said. The Ulama would soon on its own conduct a survey of all madrasas and seminaries in the State to verify their status in terms of infrastructure and facilities. Wherever there are shortcomings, the authorities of madrasas concerned would be helped in taking corrective measures.