LAHORE: Senior leader of Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (Fazl) Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri has warned of a tsunami march on Islamabad if the federal government took a U-turn on the Madressah (seminaries) Bill.

Speaking at a Palestine Conference here on Sunday,

he said that the bill has been passed by the parliament and hoped that a gazette notification of its conversion into a law would be issued soon.

However, he warned that if the government took a u-turn, a sea of people would head towards Islamabad.

Mr Haideri recalled that the bill was passed unanimously by the ruling coalition and President Asif Zardari raised objections to it after the passage of 10 mandatory days.

He said that some ulema were made to oppose the Bill, however, the JUI-F’s position has now been accepted unanimously.

The JUI-F leader said that Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa are burning as the government’s writ seemed nowhere there and asked in which direction the country was going forward. In an apparent reference to Haq Do Tehrik in Balochistan, he said that asserting one’s right to resources is not treason.

On the issue of Palestine, he said that the United States and Israel did not recognise the decision of the International Court of Justice. However, he was optimistic that a Palestinian state would soon be established in Israel.

Published in Dawn, December 23rd, 2024