Islah Pleads to President to Maintain Religious Institutes [Archives:2001/21/Front Page]

The Central Committee of the Yemeni Congregation for Reform Party (Islah) condemned the government’s decision to integrate the religious institutes with the government schools in an official statement released to the press last week. 
Harshly criticizing the government and the ruling party, the statement openly stated that education should not be involved in battles between political parties. Describing the Education Law as unconstitutional, the Islah party appealed through the statement to President Ali Abdullah Saleh to use his constitutional privileges to stop implementation of the decision. 
The press release stressed that religious institutes, in fact, help bridge all differences. “They have been a good example that combined the past and present away from politics or fanaticism,” it added. 
Through the statement, Islah stood by these institutes as “They are an important achievement following the revolution.” 
Al-Sahwa Weekly of Islah launched a scathing attack against former PM Dr. Abdulkareem Al-Iryani in response to his article published in the Mithaq, in which he attacked the religious institutes ruthlessly. The newspaper accused Dr. Iryani of increasing enemies of the regime and infighting in the government, which put the GPC on bad terms with all other political parties. 
Interestingly, Al-Sahwa also called upon Islah members not to give the institutions more than what they deserve, possibly signaling the end of the dispute for good. 
Mr. Abdulwahhab Al-Anisi, Islah’s Secretary General said at an earlier time that the GPC used education as a tool and pretext to attack Islamic movements in Yemen. 
However, political observers think that the Islah tends to calm down the problem with the GPC over religious institutes. This means that Islah has given up attempts to stop the implementation of the decision.

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