ISLAMABAD: After stern warnings from the JUI-F leadership over delays in the enactment of the Societies Registration (Amendment) Act, 2024 by the president, PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari rushed to meet JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman on Wednesday.

While Mr Bhutto-Zardari did not comment publicly, senior JUI-F members told the media that they had been assured that President Asif Ali Zardari would sign the bill soon. However, they noted that some powers were opposing the amended act, which had already been passed by both houses.

The two-hour meeting between the top leaders of JUI-F and PPP concluded around 8:30pm.

According to sources, the JUI-F delegation, which included Senator Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri, Senator Kamran Murtaza, Haji Ghulam Ali, Maulana Lutfur Rehman and Maulana Asad Mahmood, expressed serious concern over the delay in the signing of the madressah registration bill, which had been approved by the Senate in October this year.

Speaking to the media after the meeting, Maulana Haideri expressed disappointment over the president’s delay in signing the bill. “The president is delaying the signing of the bill, but the question is: can the president object to it and not sign it?” he asked.

JUI-F claims receiving assurances that president will sign madressah registration bill

He emphasised that the president represents the federation and is not affiliated with any political party, though it was acknowledged that he is from the PPP.

“The PPP assured today (Wednesday) that the president will sign the bill for madressah registration,” Maulana Haideri said, adding that obstacles in the bill’s enactment were coming from somewhere else, without naming any person or authority.

The bill in question was part of an agreement between JUI-F and the government in support of the 26th Amendment. The Societies Registration (Amendment) Act, 2024 extends the Societies Registration Act, 1860 and includes provisions for the registration of ‘Deeni Madaris’ under the relevant deputy commissioner office.

The bill specifies that a madressah with more than one campus needs only one registration, and every madressah must submit an annual report of its educational activities to the registrar. Additionally, each madressah must have its accounts audited by an auditor and submit the audit report to the registrar. The bill also states that no madressah should teach or publish literature that promotes militancy, sectarianism, or religious hatred.

In October 2019, the PTI-led government transferred the registration of seminaries to the education departments.

After more than five years of deliberations involving the government, interior ministry, security agencies, provinces and NGOs, the federal government accepted the demand of religious groups that seminaries be regulated under the education departments, viewing them as educational institutes.

Authorities had initially proposed that seminaries fall under the regulation of the interior ministry and provincial home departments. The decision by the PTI-led government in 2019 was welcomed by the joint body of religious seminaries, representing all four mainstream Islamic sects in the country.

However, due to political differences with the PTI government, seminaries affiliated with the JUI-F rejected the idea of placing madressahs under the education department and opposed incorporating conventional education into religious seminaries.

Published in Dawn, December 5th, 2024