A CONTROVERSY has been brewing over the Societies Registration (Amendment) Act, 2024, with the JUI-F slamming parties in the ruling coalition for employing ‘delaying tactics’ with regard to the bill. The new law relates to the regulatory affairs of madressahs, and has been passed by parliament, though Mr Asif Zardari has not given it presidential assent. This has incensed JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman, who has questioned the delay in signing it into law, as he claims there was consensus regarding the bill. Both Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and PPP chief Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari have tried to placate the maulana, but unless there is an amicable resolution, the JUI-F may bring its considerable cadres onto the roads to protest the delay. The maulana’s fury aside, two things must be considered; firstly, even though the president has not given his assent to the bill, it can still be passed by a joint session of parliament. The prime minister has reportedly proposed this solution. Secondly, President Zardari has apparently denied giving his approval as madressahs are educational institutions, and education is a provincial subject. On technical grounds, he is right. Did those who piloted this bill, and the lawmakers who approved it, not consider this fact?

Rather than taking to the streets, the religious parties pushing for the draft law, as well as the government, should go back to the drawing board so that a technically sound and feasible law is passed to regulate the seminaries. One way to achieve this would be to have all four provincial assemblies pass similar laws to regulate seminaries within their domain. Apart from the legal intricacies attached to the bill, there can be little doubt that there needs to be proper oversight of madressahs. Efforts have been ongoing since the Musharraf government, particularly in the post-9/11 era, to regulate seminaries. These have been spearheaded by concerns that some religious schools serve as gateways to extremism, while a few are launching pads for militancy. Of course, these are generalisations that do not apply to all madressahs. But there is a definite need to ensure that the thousands of madressahs in Pakistan are not teaching extremism and sectarianism to the youngsters on their rolls. Moreover, it is essential to impart vocational skills to seminarians, so that they can find employment beyond purely religious vocations.

Published in Dawn, December 9th, 2024