New Delhi: Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind on Monday
warned the Centre against interfering with education at
religious seminaries by setting up a central board for madrasa
saying such "intentions are not pious" and aimed at "rooting
out" the Islamic schools.
Jamiat chief Maulana Arshad Madani said if the
government is serious in working for the welfare of Muslims
then it should give minority university status to Jamia Milia
Islamia and Aligarh Muslim University.
At a conference on "safeguarding Islamic madrasas",
Madani likened the madrasas with mosques and said the two are
like religion for Muslims.
"So the government has no right to interfere with
them. Even their intentions are not pious as a few days ago it
branded madrasas as hiding places of terrorist and now they
are ready with funds for them," he alleged.
A number of Islamic scholars, theologians and clerics
from across the country attended the conference that also
accused countries like the US and Israel for "levelling
baseless charges and accusations against madrasas across the
globe that it was terrorism".
Maintaining that community-level clashes have taken
place in the past, Madani also asked the government to keep
its promise of bringing a law on tackling communalism.
He said AMU and Jamia have special characters and so
they should have intake of 50 percent Muslim students in all
streams.
Bureau Report
First Published: Monday, November 16, 2009, 23:51