Fazl hopes Islamabad march ‘won’t be needed’

ISLAMABAD: Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUIF) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman on Saturday hoped that the federal government would approve the Societies Registration (Amendment) Bill 2024, also known as madrassa registration law, after fulfilling the legal formalities.

Speaking on Geo News programme ‘Jirga’, the JUIF emir said: “I hope that neither we will need to march on Islamabad nor [the government] will require a joint session.” Fazl’s comments come after the government, following the meeting between Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and JUI-F chief, reportedly “accepted all demands of the Ittehad Tanzeemat-e-Madaris Deenia (ITMD)” regarding the contentious madrassa registration bill.

The development came during the meeting between PM Shehbaz and a Fazl-led delegation a day ago, sources close to the JUI-F told Geo News, adding that the government “assured to register all madrassas under Societies Registration Act, 1860”.

In the interview, the JUIF emir said that the talks with government have been positive wherein it admitted that the party’s demands were strong. “The government has assured that it will issue a notification soon,” he added. Fazl said his party has reached an agreement on a few issues, adding that one of the points of the bill was that the status of the registration of madrasas will remain unchanged.

The other points were that bank accounts of all madrassas would be opened and students of the seminaries should be given visas to study abroad. The senior politician said that the National Assembly has approved the bill but the president had sent an eight-point objection to the assembly on November 13. “Now there is no justification for calling a joint session on the bill again,” said Fazl.

The disputed madrassa bill, which has already been passed by both houses of parliament, became a bone of contention between the JUIF and the government after President Asif Ali Zardari returned it to the National Assembly with certain objections.

Its enactment was part of an agreement between the government and the religio-political party for supporting the 26th Amendment, Fazl had said previously.