A hollow promise
Javed Khan
PESHAWAR
Approved by the provincial cabinet in 2018, the provincial government did not provide 10,000 with monthly stipends for prayer leaders of main mosques in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP).
On February 2018, the cabinet of Pervez Khattak, former KP’s Chief Minister approved Rs10, 000 monthly stipends for prayer leaders, however, after a period of two years the department concerned failed to implement the decision in letter and spirit due to non-availability of funds.
According to the documents presented at the cabinet meeting the government had announced around Rs3.25 billion annually for the cause which meant to provide financial assistance to prayer leaders of the province.
It was decided that the stipend would be given to prayer leaders having proper degree from any of the five recognized boards of seminaries.
Besides other conditions for receiving the stipends, the prayer leaders had to be the permanent residents of the province.
The statement of the cabinet also claimed that the stipend would be directly transferred to the bank accounts of eligible imams for which modalities were settled down.
Initially it has been decided after receiving the nod of the cabinet that an official committee will be set up at the district level, which will choose main mosques, whose prayer leaders are to get the stipend.
The committee in case of the change of imam will send their nomination of new prayer leader to the district committee. At that time the provincial government had also agreed to set aside Rs3.25 billion per annum for the cause.
According to details, the government did not pay stipends to any of the prayer leaders of the province for two years now.
A prayer leader and imam of a mosque who has been entitled to receive the 10,000 stipend, said that he along with so many other aspirants have contacted the department concerned and registered complaints on various platforms but all for naught.
When contacted the officials of KP’s Zakath and Ushar department they said that financial allocation for the provision of monthly has not been made. Requesting anonymity, a senior official of the department, told this scribe that it has been proved that the move was meant to serve political motives instead of serving the religious leaders.
It was a Political stunt the former chief minister Pervez Khattak knew the stipends scheme for mosque’s imams would receive a ringing endorsement in the province.
However, coming to the endorsement of financial allocation for the scheme the cabinet and its chief failed to initiate a single step in this connection.
He said that the data collection process and formation of district level committees for selection of deserving prayer leaders has been completed.
Summary with financial and technical proposal had also been communicated with the KP’s finance department in the previous government but to no avail till this date.
Soon after the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) led provincial government announced the plan in 2018, around 300 clerics from Deonamd School of thoughts under the leadership of Jamiat Ulema Islam Fazal (JUI-F) declared the stipends to prayer leaders’ harram (forbidden).
JUI-F’s Mufti Kifayatullah criticized the move through a joint decree that had barred entitled prayer leaders from receiving the government stipend by declaring it haram.
