JUI-F warns govt of 'Islamabad march' if madrassa bill not approved

• Delay shows ill intentions, says JUI-F leader.
• Madrassa bill represents all religious school organisations.
• Religious scholars aim to avoid unnecessary confrontation.

LAHORE: Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) Secretary-General Abdul Ghafoor Haideri has warned the incumbent government of staging a march on Islamabad if the Societies Registration (Amendment) Act, 2024, related to the registration of madrassas, did not get approval.

Speaking to journalists in Lahore on Friday, Haideri expressed concern over the government's "ill intentions" to delay the approval of the madrassa registration bill.

He emphasised that while the JUI-F does not wish for confrontation, they would be compelled to act if their demands were ignored. He urged the government to ensure immediate approval to prevent further unrest.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and JUI-F Emir Maulana Fazlur Rehman held a telephonic conversation, said the party.

Fazl expressed his concerns regarding the madrassa registration bill to the prime minister, according to the JUI-F spokesperson. The premier, in response, assured him of addressing all concerns related to the bill.

He emphasised that the government should avoid turning the "consensus bill" into a controversial matter. He further asserted that no compromise would be allowed on the independence and freedom of madrassas.

The Societies Registration (Amendment) Act, 2024, had been passed by the National Assembly and Senate in October and its enactment was part of an agreement between the government and the religio-political party in support of the 26th Amendment.

This warning came two days after Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari met Maulana Fazl at the latter’s residence in Islamabad in which the latter expressed concerns over the president not signing the seminaries’ registration bill.

The JUI-F chief had maintained that despite approval of the bill from both houses of parliament, it was still not signed by President Asif Ali Zardari.

In response, Bilawal had reassured the cleric that he would take up the issue of madrassa registration bill signing issue with the government.

Meanwhile, another JUI-F leader Hafiz Hamdullah questioned the government's reluctance in the signing of the act, saying that the PPP and Bilawal were on board until the passage of the bill was passed.

He suggested that Bilawal should talk to his father and play his role as the issue concerns the supremacy of the parliament, warning that Fazl would be forced to take action.

It should be noted that Fazl had earlier said the party would announce a future course of action in Peshawar on December 8 if the government failed to sign the legislation by December 7.

The bill

The much-discussed legislation is an amended version of the Societies Registration Act, 1860, which emphasised the registration of madrassas (Islamic seminaries) in existence "within six months" from its enactment.

It also stated that a Deeni Madrassa established after the commencement of the Societies Registration (Amendment) Act, 2024, shall get itself registered "within one year of its establishment".

A seminary having more than one campus shall need only one registration, it read.

Subsequently, each madrassa would be bound to submit its annual report of its educational activities and audit report to a registrar.

Under the law, a Deeni Madrassa was defined as a religious institution established or operated primarily for the purpose of imparting religious education, which provides boarding and lodging facilities.