Govt seeks time to give madrasa bill 'legal shape' amid JUI-F's Dec 8 deadline

Amid rising tensions, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman gave the incumbent government a deadline of December 8 to approve the seminary registration bill as the minister for religious affairs sought more time to give the it a legal shape.

His remarks came as President Asif Ali Zardari, earlier this week, returned the Madrasa Registration Bill to the Prime Minister's Office, citing legal objections.

Addressing an event at Madrasa Jamia Usmania in KP’s Nowshera, the JUI-F chief said that they wanted to remain within their limits and did not want confrontation with the state.

Expressing his annoyance over differentiating between ancient and modern education, he said: “Knowledge is knowledge.”

He said all the religious seminaries were kept “under pressure”.

So-called reforms were being imposed on madrasa in the name of bringing the seminaries into the mainstream.

“You declared war on us, we did not.”

Responding to a question, the JUI-F leader said that the government was pushing the seminaries towards extremism and radicalism.

He said that they would not consider objections regarding madrassas in any way.

“We will not hand over any more madrassas to the government,” the JUI-F leader added.

In a statement today, Minister for Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony Chaudhry Salik Hussain said that registration of seminaries was a long-standing requirement.

“It will take some time to give the Madrasa Registration Bill a legal shape,” the minister said, adding that it does not mean that the entire process of madrasa registration is being rolled back.

Accepting the Maulana’s demand, the government got approved the bill from both houses of the parliament, he said.

“Madrasa are also educational institutions that only fall under the education ministry.”

The minister said: “18,000 Madrassas were registered with Directorate General of Religious Education.”

There was a one-window operation at the directorate general to ease the registration process.