LAHORE - The government has started detailed survey of religious seminaries to ascertain the strength of individual madrissas and identification of individual students and faculty members throughout the country. The survey started simultaneously along with the schools/colleges survey to get first hand information about the enrolled students and teachers for their identification. The surveys are being conducted by the police and security agencies in the wake of fresh wave of terrorism in the country particularly in Punjab. There were threats to schools/colleges and religious seminaries particularly those having co-education. The surveys are part of the overall preparation to safeguard government establishments and educational institutions under threats of subversive activities. While the management of schools/colleges have been advised to make security arrangements of their own vis-a-vis erection of security gates, metal detectors, posting of security guards at the gates and roof tops, identification of visitors, wearing of uniform and school/college ID cards, the religious seminaries have not been asked to do so. The survey also aimed at ascertaining the strength of foreign students if any, their respective countries and tribes etc. The government agencies distributed printed questionnaire to the heads of religious seminaries to fill and return. The form, however, did not ask the funding and patronage of madrissa. The Wafaqul Madrissa and Tanzimul Madrissa have separately rejected the surveys and ascertainment of intelligence information on madrissas. They say that this is an act to harass madrissas and have vowed not to cooperate with the security agencies for such surveys. Nazim-e-Aala Tanzimul Madrissa Dr Sarfraz Naeemi said that there was nothing to hide from anyone as madrissa enrollment system as well as studies and funds were transparent. There are no terrorists in the ranks of students and teachers and if any, the government is free to identify and take them into custody, he added. There are at least two million students, both boys and girls, studying various levels of Dars-e-Nizami (4 years) programme equal to BA besides Hifz and Nazra Quran in 21,000 madrissas in the country. Most of the religious madrissas also provide residential facilities and food to the students who come from various parts of the country particularly NWFP, FATA and Pakistan Occupied Kashmir. Majority of students at these madrissas are orphan, destitute and abandoned while some of the madrissa enroll students from the affluent families. Most of the madrissas are affiliated with Wafaqul Madrissa, predominantly, a 'deobandi sect while Sunni (Brelvi) madrissas are affiliated with Tanzimul Madrissa. Fiqah Jaffria and Ahle Hadith have also a fair number of madrissas where they teach their own fiqah and curriculum.