- Fazl says he doesn’t want confrontation with the state.
- Government pushes seminaries towards extremism: head of JUI-F.
- So-called reforms are being imposed on madrassas, he says.
Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) leader Maulana Fazlur Rehman has set December 8 as the deadline for the government to approve the Seminary Enrollment Bill, Religious Affairs Minister seeking more time to give the bill legal form.
Tensions between the Maulana and the Centre’s coalition government further escalated when President Asif Ali Zardari earlier this week returned the Madrassa Registration Bill to the Prime Minister’s Office, citing legal objections. .
Addressing an event at Jamia Usmania Madrasa in KP’s Nowshera, the JUI-F chief said he wanted to stay within his limits and did not want confrontation with the state.
Expressing his dissatisfaction with the difference between ancient and modern education, he said: “Knowledge is knowledge.”
He said all religious seminaries were being kept “under pressure.”
So-called reforms were imposed on madrasahs in the name of integrating seminaries into the mainstream.
“You declared war on us, we didn’t.”
Responding to a question, the JUI-F leader said the government was pushing the seminaries towards extremism and radicalism.
He said they would not consider objections regarding madrassas in any way.
“We will no longer hand over madrassas to the government,” added the JUI-F leader.
In a statement today, Minister of Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony Chaudhry Salik Hussain said registration of seminars was a long-standing requirement.
“It will take some time to give legal form to the Madrasa Registration Bill,” the minister said, adding that this does not mean that the entire process of madrasa registration is cancelled.
By agreeing to Maulana’s request, the government secured approval of the bill from both houses of parliament, he said.
“Madrasahs are also educational institutions that come under the sole jurisdiction of the Ministry of Education.”
The minister said: “18,000 madrassas have been registered with the General Directorate of Religious Education. »
There was a one-stop shop at the General Directorate to facilitate the registration process.