Madrasa body demands all-community probe into funding sources

EXPRESS NEWSSERVICE AHMEDABAD, AUGUST 6

Madrasa body demands all-community probe into funding sources
MTMGpresident says media need not unnecessarily blame madrasas for bomb blasts
THEpresident of Majlise-Tahaffuz-e-Madarise-Gujarat (MTMG), Mufti AhmedYaqub Patel, has called for setting up of an allcommunity committee to conduct inquiry nto the financial aspects of all madrasas in the state. This comes close on the heels of some media reports about the fund sources of the madrasas (Islamic seminaries) in the state. In a statement issued on Tuesday, Patel said the all-community probe, under the supervision of the Home Ministry, would reveal that who are the anti-social elements and anti-social institutions of the state. The cleric running a madrasa at Jambusar in Bharuch district said that what the media was covering about the financial aspects of the seminaries was not based on facts. He said it was intended to misguide the masses, thus creating a wrong impression about the Muslim centres of culture and religion. He said there are about two dozen madrasas in the state receiving foreign contributions but only after getting permission from the Union Home Ministry nderFCRArules. He further said that all madrasas in Gujarat are registered with the state Wakf board. All of them submit their annual audit report with details of tatement of accounts to the board, he added. "The media need not unnecessarily put the blame on madrasas for dastardly and inhuman act of bomb blasts," said Patel.
He added that so far no complaint has been registered against any of the madrasas in the state for misuse of money. He said the State Home Department officials had several times in the past visited madrasas and inquired in detail about their activities and funding sources. But nothing that could be termed "anti-national" was found, he added. "No bomb was ever recovered from any madrasa," he said, adding: "The madrasas just teach discipline, religious values as also patriotism."

http://epaper.indianexpress.com/Web/PagePrint/2008/08/07/07_08_2008_603.pdf