After months of delay
\nIslamabad
\nThe controversy surrounding the Societies Registration (Amend\u00adment) Act 2024 came to an end on Sunday when President Asif Ali Zardari signed it into law.
\nControversy persisted in the country related to the new law passed by parliament related to the regulatory affairs of madressahs. The law pertained to the registration of seminaries by the relevant deputy commissioner\u2019s office, as it was before 2019.
\nOn December 20, Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman \u2014 after decrying that the government was deliberately delaying the passage of the bill \u2014 claimed that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had ordered the law ministry to take immediate practical measures as per the law and the Constitution regarding the Act.
\nTwo days before that, the government and the JUI-F both seemed to favour talks in a National Assembly session to sort out the controversy surrounding the proposed legislation. Earlier in the month, Zardari had cautioned parliamentarians to consider international obligations before altering the existing procedures for registering religious seminaries.
\nThe proposed legislation, commonly known as the madrassah registration bill, was sent back to Zardari with objections, even though it was passed by parliament at the time of the passage of the 26th Amendment.
\nA notification signed by President Zardari today, a copy of which is available with Dawn.com, said: \u201cThe Prime Minister\u2019s advice at para 6 of the summary is approved. The Societies Registration (Amendment) Ordinance, 2024, is signed and promulgated.\u201d
\nA gazette shared by National Assembly Secretariat Tahir Hussain said that madressahs founded before the act which have not been registered must do so within six months of the act\u2019s commencement.
\nAny madrassah established after the commencement of the Act must register itself within one year.
\nAccording to the gazette, madressahs must submit an annual report of their educational activities to the Registrar, as well as submit an audit report of its accounts carried out by an auditor.
\n\u201cNo [madressah] shall teach or publish any literature which teaches or promotes militancy or spreads sectarianism or religious hatred,\u201d the gazette said.
\nEvery madrassah shall, subject to their resources, include basic contemporary subjects in their curriculum according to a phased programme, it went on to say.
\n\u201cNo [madressah] shall be required to register itself under any other law for the time being in force,\u201d the gazette added.
\nSeparately, JUI-F spokesperson Aslam Ghauri, while congratulating the country, said that the struggle had \u201cpaid off\u201d, adding that his party would always play a role in protecting religious seminaries.
\nThe party spokesperson said that the seminaries were \u201cthe fortress of Islam\u201d and the guardians of the \u201cideological geography\u201d of the country.
\nHe said that the unity of the religious scholars was important for the protection of religious institutions, adding that the party would thwart \u201cevery conspiracies\u201d against the seminaries.
\n\u201cWe will not compromise on the autonomy of the seminaries,\u201d Ghauri said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
After months of delay Islamabad The controversy surrounding the Societies Registration (Amend\u00adment) Act 2024 came to an end on Sunday when President Asif Ali Zardari signed it into law. Controversy persisted in the country related to the new law passed by parliament related to the regulatory affairs of madressahs. The law pertained to the registration …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":64475,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[75],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-74878","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-top"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74878","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=74878"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74878\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":74892,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74878\/revisions\/74892"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/64475"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74878"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=74878"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=74878"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}