• MQM changes tune on madressah registration, backs Fazl’s demand for bill’s gazette notification
• Law minister admits ‘legal complexity’ as bill was not referred to joint sitting after objections
• Says Dar, Sana asked by PM to address Maulana’s ‘misgivings’ over legislation

ISLAMABAD: The Ittehad Tanzeemat-i-Madaris Pakistan said on Tuesday that seminaries will remain autonomous and will not become part of any government department, a departure from the stance adopted by the forum in 2019, when traditional madressah boards had agreed to cede some control to the federal education ministry.

The statement came after a joint delegation called on JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman at his residence in Islamabad to throw their weight behind the JUI-F leader, who is currently pressing the government to issue a gazette notification for the Societies Registration (Amend­ment) Bill 2024, which would roll back the 2019 agreement and make the district administration the authority to carry out registration of seminaries.

The joint delegation represented madressah boards belonging to the Barelvi, Deobandi, Shia and Ahle Hadith schools of thought, while the fifth board belongs to seminaries under the control of the Jamaat-i-Islami.

In a statement issued after the meeting, Mufti Taqi Usmani said that the boards’ collective decision to come under the administra­tive control of the education ministry was taken under pressure, as at the time they thought it was better to be under the control of the education ministry than anyone else.

Mufti Usmani said that seminaries will remain autonomous, adding that they would not become subservient to authorities in Pakistan like they were in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Egypt.

Like the traditional madressah boards, the MQM also shifted its stance on the registration of seminaries, with its chief Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui saying the political party would support the Maulana on this issue.

In a joint press conference with Maulana Fazl after a meeting at his residence, he urged the government to proceed with the proposed legislation by removing unnecessary hurdles.

Just days earlier, Mr Siddiqui, who also holds the federal education portfolio, sat alongside government ministers and clerics to oppose the bill at a government-sponsored conference, where he had termed the issue “a matter of national security”.

Flanked by MQM leaders, the JUI-F chief on Tuesday criticised the government for creating complications and said that the bill was passed by parliament, but disrupted by the presidency. “We demand its gazette notification, and if there are any amendments required they can be done later,” the JUI-F chief added.

NA session

In the National Assembly, the government and the JUI-F both seemed to favour talks to sort out the controversy surrounding the proposed legislation.

Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar admitted that a legal complexity had been created regarding the Societies Registration (Amendment) Bill 2024 and offered that Maulana Fazalur Rehman should sit with the government to sort out the issue.

The minister acknowledged that a genuine complexity had been created after the president’s message on October 28 when the bill was first returned to the speaker, adding that it should have been taken up by parliament in a joint sitting at that time.

“Let us sit together and go through the letter of the president containing objections and see whether the bill will be taken to the joint sitting or it will go through in the existing shape, but the issue will be resolved as per the Constitution,” he said.

The law minister said the prime minister had given instructions that senior party leaders, including himself, Ishaq Dar and PM’s adviser Rana Sanaullah, should sit with the Maulana and find a solution to this issue. Senator Tarar added that any other senior leader from allied parties, like PPP’s Syed Naveed Qamar, could also be engaged in the exercise.

He added that the Societies Registration (Amendment) Bill 2024 was passed with consensus, not with a majority. “We own the bill, whether the provisions mentioned in it are right or wrong, but legal aspects will also have to be seen.”

Speaking in the lower house, JUI-F chief Maulana Fazalur Rehman said that the bill was passed by the National Assembly and the Senate. He added that the government should have referred the bill to the joint sitting after the objections by the president.

He, however, expressed dismay that the bill was not sent to the joint sitting within 10 days after it was returned with objections. “Still, if the government wants to talk on it, we are ready for that,” he said.

Published in Dawn, December 18th, 2024