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Madarasa funding leading to new controversy?

GNS SRINAGAR, Dec : The government’s claim of funding Madrasas in the state seems inducing a new political controversy with parties across the board questioning the authenticity of the claims and utilisation of the funds.
A day after principal opposition PDP demanded white paper on the controversy over the release of central funds to Madrasas, the separatist leader, Syed Ali Shah Geelani, today cautioned the religious heads against the “hidden agenda of the agencies.”
“We are not bothered about how the funds were utilised or who eats up the money, but we are concerned about the hidden policy which is the base of these claims. The policy can be vicious for our ongoing movement,” Geelani said in a press statement issued here.
“I caution all the religious institutions within the boundaries of the state to remain cautious against this trap set by the agencies. The religious heads must see as most important the social and national cause,” he appealed.
The statement from the veteran separatists follows the central government’s disclosure of funding the Madrasas in the state. The same was subsequently denied by the Mutahida Ulema Ahl-e-Sunnat (MUAS)—amalgam of various religious bodies in the state.
“We neither received any funds from the centre nor did we approach for it. We wanted the centre to disclose the list of Madrassas it claims to have funded, but it brought out the list of those institutions that it intends to fund. This has defamed us,” the amalgam had said in a press conference on Thursday.
The amalgam threatened to move court if the actual beneficiaries was not disclosed forthwith.
Geelani hinted that the claim was a ploy to divide the Muslim society for New Delhi “to strengthen its occupation.”
“Government of India failed to quill the movement with its military might, now it is trying to weaken us on other fronts. The claim is part of the same policy. It is a ploy to break our unity like the west tried to create sectarian divisions within the Muslims using corrupt religious heads,” he said.
Casting doubt on the utilisation of funds, the opposition PDP yesterday demanded that a white paper be presented on the controversy as there was a "huge gap" between the amount released by Centre and the figure acknowledged by the state.
"This is a very serious issue as it involves not only huge financial transactions of dubious nature but also the reputation of one of the most respected institutions of our society," PDP president Mehbooba Mufti had said in a press statement.
Pertinently, the state recently underwent the controversy over the “financially motivated religious conversions”. It led to strong public resentment against the Christian missionaries in the state while the separatists linked it to the “well thought” policy of “corrupting the Kashmiri culture.”

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