President’s objections to seminaries’ bill legal, constitutional: Tarar

Minister for Information, Broadcasting, National Heritage and Culture Attaullah Tarar said Saturday the objections raised by President Asif Ali Zardari on the seminaries’ registration bill are completely “constitutional and legal”.

“In these objections, there is no mention of Financial Action Task Force (FATF), nor they have any connection with it,” said the minister in a post on X, formerly Twitter.

He said it is not in the interest of anyone to politicize the constitutional and legal matters. “Linking the registration of seminaries with FATF is nothing but a creation of complete imagination and speculation”, he said.

Fazl lashes out at President over Madaras Bill

The Constitution elaborated the complete procedure for legislation, he said, adding the President objected in accordance with the Constitution and the Parliament would also rectify it in the same spirit.

The purpose of these speculations is to target the powers of the President and Parliament, he said, while urging the people not to criticize the issue just for the sake of criticism.

President Asif Ali Zardari earlier raised objections on the Societies Registration (Amendment) Bill, 2024 (Madrassah’s registration) that laws already exist and there is no need for a new legislation and it would affect Pakistan’s ratings from organisations such as the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).

Madrassah registration: President says ‘new law is unnecessary’

Referring to the existing laws related to madrassah registration, according to the sources, the president pointed out that the new legislation is unnecessary as two laws, Pakistan Madrasa Education Board Ordinance, 2001, and the Islamabad Capital Territory Trust Act, 2020, are already in place.

The president also warned that registering madrasahs under this law could foster sectarianism and disrupt peace and order due to the construction of multiple madrasahs within a single society.

Meanwhile, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman has accused the President’s House and the president of creating confusion unnecessarily by raising objection to a bill already approved by the parliament.

Talking to the media in Dera Ismail Khan, Maulana Fazl said that the registration of madrasas is being debated in politics. He said that the draft of bill was finalised during the previous government of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif followed by its unanimous approval by both houses of the parliament.