Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Friday assured the head of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam to ‘resolve issues soon’ related to the registration of religious madrassas, while Maulana Fazlur Rehman emphasized that the good news of the demand being accepted in a day or two. Be heard.
The head of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam had demanded that the process of registration of religious schools in the country should be brought under the Societies Act of 1860 instead of the Education Department. When the bill related to the registration of religious schools reached the President’s House after being approved by both houses of the parliament, President Asif Zardari sent it back to the parliament after objecting to it.
A statement issued by the Prime Minister’s House, where the political parties met earlier, announced ‘positive progress’ on the issue.
Apart from Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI) and the ruling party Muslim League-N, Pakistan Peoples Party also participated in this meeting.
After the bill was sent back to Parliament, a controversy arose after which different statements came out from the JUI.
Among them were statements like ‘The decision will be in the House not in the field’ and ‘Marching towards Islamabad for approval’.
However, today, after the Prime Minister’s assurance, Fazlur Rahman said in a conversation with the media that he reiterated his position in the meeting that if the President wants to object to it, then an objection has already been made, which was corrected by the Speaker according to the constitution and law. He also answered.
The president did not react to this answer and did not insist on his objection.
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He further said regarding the President that the second objection sent after him does not have constitutional status, it was also sent after the passage of time.
Fazlur Rahman said that he was given a very positive response, the Prime Minister issued immediate instructions to the Ministry of Law to take immediate practical action on this in accordance with the law and constitution.
‘Hopefully they will bring forward the measures as per our demand. I will also inform Madrasas Deeniya about this whole situation, within a day or two they will hear the good news that our demand has been accepted.
Earlier, the Minister of Law and Justice Azam Nazir Tarar while talking to Independent Urdu on the Religious Madrasas Registration Bill said that there is nothing like that in its draft. This law is up to the limits of Islamabad, for which all stakeholders were consulted. Because the draft came back with a message that it is a technical thing and will be resolved according to the law.
The question ‘Why is the bill delayed?’ But Azam Nazir Tarar replied that ‘I am of the opinion that whenever the matter is referred under Article 75 of the Constitution, the Speaker of the National Assembly cannot see it, but the matter will come up in the joint session, where its procedure will be decided. will.’
What is in the Religious Madrasas Registration Bill?
In October this year, the government required a two-thirds majority to pass the 26th Constitutional Amendment Bill, for which Maulana Fazlur Rehman’s party was contacted.
He approved the demand to include other proposals in the constitutional amendment bill including abolishing interest system and approving the bill for registration of religious madrasas under Society Act instead of Education Department.
During the tenure of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf in power, the JUI had opposed the agreement between the government and the Ulama to ‘bring schools under the Ministry of Education’. However, the party managed to get the Society Act Amendment Bill passed two months ago.
The Religious Seminaries Registration Bill has replaced the section 21 of the Society Act of 1860 by adding a new clause called ‘Registration of Religious Seminaries’ which states that any religious seminary by any name, Registration will be mandatory and without registration the madrassa will be closed.
According to the draft bill, Madrasahs established before the implementation of this Amendment Act 2024, which are not registered, will have to get their registration done within six months. While the madrasas established after the implementation of the bill have been given one year time for registration.
The bill states that madrasas will have to submit their annual educational activities report to the registrar and will also have to have their financial regulations/accounts audited by the auditor.
The bill would not allow any religious seminary to teach or publish a curriculum that ‘promotes religious hatred, militancy or sectarianism’.
