ISLAMABAD, Dec 17 (NNI): The Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazal (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman on Tuesday blamed the government for “hampering the registration of seminaries”.
Speaking on the floor of the National Assembly, a visibly agitated Maulana said the 26th constitutional amendment was passed with consensus and it’s the spirit of cooperation which helped sort out issues. “Dialogue and negotiations are an integral part of politics,” he said.
He said it had become crystal clear that legislation was done in the country at the behest of the International Monetary Fund.
“Today I want to go into history of religious seminaries,” he said. He said questions were raised about seminaries in 2004.
These questions, he said, related to monetary system (sources of funding), syllabus and organisational structure.
He said a legislation was undertaken after the stakeholders convinced the government about the transparent system of seminaries. However, issues persisted and finally an agreement was reached in 2010 according to which any complaint against the seminaries would be taken up with a regulatory authority instead of directly approaching the institution concerned.
He said the government again raised questions about registration of seminaries under Societies Act of 1860 and insisted that they should affiliate themselves with the federal education department after the passage of the 18th amendment.
He said it was just an agreement and there was no legislation to the effect.
He said the seminaries which had been registered should continue to work under the same arrangement. He also demanded that there should be bank accounts of seminaries and the foreign students should have nine-year visa.
He said the law minister drafted a bill and made changes to it despite an agreement. The bill was approved on Oct 21 and the president raised objections to it on Oct 28.
Subsequently, it was again sent to the president after removal of objections. He said why a gazette notification was not being issued when Speaker Ayaz Sadiq claimed that it had become an act.
In a bid to resolve the matter, discussions continued under the leadership of the Prime Minister, who showed support for addressing the issue.
A draft was presented to the House, but Rehman claimed that unexpected changes during the second reading of the bill violated the previous agreements, leading him and his party to withdraw support for the legislation.
He stressed that the mutual agreement reached with religious organizations had been broken and that the new legislation was not in line with the established principles. NNI
