ISLAMABAD: The Ittehad Tanzeemat-i-Madaris Pakistan (ITMP) — a federation of the main madressah oversight bodies in the country — demanded on Monday night that a gazette notification be issued for the Societies Registration (Amend­ment) Act 2024, Dawn.com reported.

The bill pertains to the registration of seminaries by the relevant deputy commissioner’s office, as it was before 2019.

President Zardari had returned the bill to the National Assembly with certain objections on October 29, before flying to the United Arab Emirates. The bill was approved by the Senate on Oct 20, along with the 26th Amendment. It passed through the National Assembly on Oct 21 and was forwarded to the president on Oct 22.

When the JUI-F chief learnt of the development, he threatened to launch protests against the government to force it to accept the bill. Maulana Fazlur Rehman had said that a meeting would be held with Mufti Taqi Usmani to form a joint stance on the issue.

Addressing a press conference in Islamabad and reading out a resolution agreed upon by all members of Monday’s meeting, Mufti Muneebur Rehman, head of board for madressahs of the Barelvi school of thought, said: “This bill has adopted a legal form … our demand is that the gazette notification be issued for it without delay so immediate implementation can begin on it.”

He said the meeting’s participants deliberated upon the matter in detail and agreed upon the joint statement after considerable debate.

Recounting the act’s passage, he said once the act was sent again to the president on November 1 after addressing his complaints, there was no further issue raised within 10 days.

“However, new reservations were attached on Nov 13 which were inapplicable due to the timeframe expiring,” he said.

Mufti Muneeb said reservations about the act could not be raised again.

He said the collective opinion of the meeting’s participants was that the government would accept their demand, adding that otherwise, they would reconvene to determine the future course of action with consensus.

Maulana Fazl said an issue was created regarding the act that it was controversial after ample time had passed, adding that he would have himself sat down for talks on any issues if they were brought up in a timely manner.

He said those gathered beside him wanted to resolve the matter with the government in a peaceful, legal and democratic manner, adding that the government should reciprocate in kind.

Published in Dawn, December 17th, 2024