ISLAMABAD (Staff Report) – While Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan is strongly defending the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) government’s decision to allocate Rs. 300 million to Darul Uloom Haqqania, Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari has slammed the move as a step in “legitimising militancy”.
According to a statement issued by his spokesman Senator Farhatullah Babar, the former president is gravely concerned about the use of public money for funding a private seminary with a long history of promoting violence.
“The resources should have been spent on human development instead of a seminary whose claim to fame lies in its promotion of militant Islam and the world view of Islamic militants,” Zardari said.
“This has happened around the time when a group of the militant Taliban reportedly claimed responsibility for the targeted killing of Amjad Sabri Qawwal in Karachi makes, which makes it all the more poignant,” the statement added.
“It is also widely known that a number of militant Taliban leaders have been students of this seminary,” he said, while calling the seminary’s administration “proven sympathisers of Taliban”.
Recent media reports have claimed that KP government had slashed funds for minorities to set aside Rs. 300 million for the Darul Uloom Haqqania in the Budget 2016-17.
