The federal government is going to pay monthly honorarium to all khateebs and imams of Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Islamabad.
Prime Minister Imran Khan on the proposal of Religious Affairs Minister Pir Noorul Haq Qadri has approved the monthly honorarium to all prayer leaders according to which honorarium would be paid to imams and khateebs of Jamia mosques.
Moreover, a survey would be conducted regarding the exact number of khateebs and their ability in this regard, as Prime Minister Imran Khan instructed them to collect the data of all of the khateebs and other scholars.
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The honorarium has been decided to be paid to all khateebs of Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Islamabad, however, the ministry has sought recommendations about the procedure to pay the honorarium to all prayer leaders.
It may be recalled that the Chief Minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was the first to establish a monthly allowance for prayer leaders on 5 January.
A monthly honorarium of Rs 10,000 for 22,000 imams and khateebs across the province, with the cost amounting to Rs. 227.2 million monthly and Rs. 2.5 billion annually was announced by CM KP Mahmood Khan.
Besides this monthly stipend, Lahore High Court (LHC) Chief Justice Muhammad Qasim Khan previously announced an honorarium for all the Christian employees of the Punjab judiciary on the occasion of Christmas in 2020.
840 Christian officers and employees serving in the LHC and Punjab district judiciary, were given Rs 8.5 million.
An additional registrar, 7 Multan bench employees, 28 Rawalpindi bench employees and 4 Bahawalpur bench employees were included among the 105 recipients of the Christmas honorarium.
Similarly, in the district judiciary of Punjab, three civil judges and 693 employees also received the honorarium for Christmas occasion.
