2.2mn seminary students also have rights: Imran Khan

 

PESHAWAR: PTI chief Imran Khan said on Sunday that the 2.2 million children enrolled and studying in Pakistan's madrassa system also have rights for which the government holds responsibility to ensure.

The process of taking corrective actions has begun with Darul Uloom Haqqania, said the cricketer-turned-politician while addressing a press conference in Peshawar.

The PTI chief also said during his press conference that the KP government was undertaking administrative corrections in hospitals. He also disclosed that the budget for health sector has been increased from eight billion rupees to twenty-five billion rupees.

Imran also appealed to the high court to end its stay order with regard to the health department.

He said that bringing seminaries into the mainstream was part of the National Action Plan.

"Those madrassas which had refused to accept corrective actions during the Musharraf era are now on-board with the recommendations provided by the PTI-led government," he said.

Imran Khan and PTI have been slammed by critics during the past week after the PTI-led KP government approved a grant of Rs 300 million for Darul Uloom Haqqania, a seminary allegedly said to have links with Taliban militants.

PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari on Sunday criticized the measure by the KP government, calling the move "legitimization of militancy and militant Taliban that will undermine the nation's resolve to fight militants to the finish."