PESHAWAR: Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman has said that any agreement between the government and boards of seminaries aimed at harming madressahs will not be acceptable to his party and its affiliated seminaries.

Addressing ulema and students at one-day ‘Tahafuz-i-Madaris convention’ here on Sunday, he alleged that the government was under pressure to change curriculum of seminaries, but warned that such agreement wouldn’t be accepted.

He said that government should not interfere in the affairs of madressahs in the name of reforms or bringing religious education institutions into mainstream. He said that international establishment had designed the so-called reforms agenda for seminaries.

The JUI-F chief said that his party had never accepted mandate of the “selected” government, which had no moral authority to impose its decisions on seminaries. He said that his party was closely watching negotiations between the government and seminaries’ boards.

He said that government was under pressure to change curriculum of madressahs and an agreement was likely to be signed with seminaries’ boards in that regard. “We will not accept any agreement, which harms religious education,” he warned, adding that ulema would start teaching under the shade of trees if the government sealed seminaries.

JUI-F chief says so-called reforms agenda designed by international establishment

Mr Rehman said that 98 per cent of the seminaries had affiliation with JUI-F and they would resist any unilateral and arbitrary deal. He said that head of madressahs board had expressed reservations over the proposed deal.

He said that western countries fully supported jihad against former Soviet Union in Afghanistan and now they were blaming religion for extremism and terrorism. He denied that madressahs had played any role in extremism and terrorism.

The JUI-F chief said that seminaries were used in 1980s under international agenda. He added that previous governments of PPP and PML-N were also following foreign agenda to change curriculum of seminaries. He said that government should think about public sector education institutions.

Mr Rehman said that all school of thoughts and their affiliated boards had capacity to reform curriculum for seminaries if necessary. He said that JUI-F would not compromise on the future of seminaries. He added that bureaucracy was following the same policies, which it inherited from the British rulers.

The JUI-F chief said that British created an impression that the students of religious schools belonged to inferior class and did not enjoy any respect in society. The British also excluded Arabic, Fiqah, Hadith and Persian from the education system and tried to isolate religious class.

After these measures by the British government, ulema established Darul Uloom Deoband in 1866 to protect religious values of the Muslims in Sub-continent. He said that seminaries had been ignored after partition of Sub-continent and bureaucracy was towing the line of its British masters.

Mr Rehman criticised the government’s stance on the India-held Kashmir and alleged that the government had stuck deal on Kashmir. He supported decision of Arab League for rejecting Trump’s peace plan for Israel and Palestine. He said that President Trump had ignored 700 resolutions of the UN General Assembly and 100 resolutions of the Security Council by presenting a so-called peace deal.

Published in Dawn, February 3rd, 2020