Religious scholars ask govt to notify madrasa bill

ISLAMABAD: The Ittehad Tanzeemat-i-Madaris Pakistan (ITMP), an organisation of religious seminaries, on Monday demanded of the government to immediately issue a gazette notification for the Societies Registration (Amend­ment) Act 2024 concerning registration of madaris.

Addressing a press conference here after a meeting of Tanzeemat-i-Madaris, Mufti Muneebur Rehman said the bill should not be made controversial and immediate gazette notification should be issued. He said that the bill had already taken shape of an Act of the Parliament, as the president raised objection on it for the second time after passage of the required time.

Chief of his own faction of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Maulana Fazlur Rehman, who also attended the meeting, said that the government itself attempted to make the issue as controversial after making changes in it.

Leading religious scholars and Ulema of the country like Mufti Taqi Usmani, Maulana Hanif Jalandhari, Maulana Sajid Mir, Maulana Abdul Malik and others also attended the meeting which concluded late Monday night.

Mufti Muneeb said the bill was sent to the president on October 28, 2024, who returned it to the National Assembly Speaker with some objection. The Speaker cleared the objection which terming it a typing error.

However, the president again raised objections after passage of the required time on November 13. Moreover, he said there was also no provision for raising objections for the second time.

Therefore, he said, the bill had already taken shape of law and the same be notified in Gazette of Pakistan without any delay. Maulana Fazl said that it was unanimous view of all the participants at the meeting that if the government did not accept their demand, they would meet again to decide future action plan.