Amid the ongoing tussle between the government and the JUI-F over the Societies Registration (Amendment) Bill 2024 that deals with the registration of seminaries, party chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman has accused the incumbent regime of creating divisions among religious scholars after the latter called for “keeping madrassas issue separate from politics”.
“Conspiracy being hatched to create division among the clerics […] why are scholars being pit against each other,” the religio-political leader questioned while addressing a press conference in Charsadda on Monday.
Maulana Fazl remarks came shortly after the conclusion of the Conference on Madrassa Registration and Reforms, wherein a resolution urging the government to maintain the existing system of religious schools was approved.
During the conference — which was attended by scholars and administrators of religious institutions from all schools of thought, the clerics called against turning the madrassas registration issue into a “political arena”.
Reacting to the conference, Fazl said that his party doesn’t want confrontation with the state, but registration of seminaries. “They wanted to give us a new system in 2019, but it was just an agreement,” he said.
Following the agreement, the Directorate General of Religious Education (DGRE) was established under the executive order.
The JUI-F chief said there had been an agreement on the madrassas registration bill before the passage of the 26th Constitutional Amendment, and a draft was prepared.
“All relevant stakeholders, including the agencies, agreed on the bill, which was later passed by the National Assembly and the Senate,” he said, asking why the amendment bill was returned by President Asif Zardari.
