Islamabad, Pakistan – After suppressing the protests of the opposition party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), the government of Pakistan is now facing a new challenge – the unrest that may be led by Fazal-ur-Rehman, the religious leader of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl. (JUIF) group.
Rehman, a veteran politician and part of the coalition governing Pakistan from April 2022 to August 2023, is urging the government to approve a bill introduced in October to amend the registration process for religious schools.
In October, the law was passed along with the controversial 26th amendment – which was removed by the government, and which required the support of JUIF legislators – giving parliament oversight over the appointment of judges.
However, when the bill came to him for final approval, President Asif Ali Zardari raised a “technical objection” and sent it back to parliament for further discussion. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s government has since expressed its concerns about the bill – which has sparked controversy.
Rehman has spoken to government officials, including Sharif, saying the current law governing religious seminaries undermines their independence.
Last week, he warned that going back on the commitments he made to his party could destabilize Pakistan’s already volatile political landscape.
“We want to create an atmosphere of trust. It is the duty of the government to improve the situation, but it seems that it is pushing people to be violent and protest,” said Rehman in Peshawar.
So what is the current law, and what would the new bill do? What are the grievances raised by Zardari and others? And what’s next, with the bill and Pakistan’s fractured politics?
How were clergy ruled historically?
The debate over the registration of seminaries, also known as madrassas, has long been contentious in Pakistan.
Historically, seminaries were registered under the colonial-era Societies Registration Act of 1860 at the district level. This decentralization process left the government with little control over curricula, activities or funding.
In particular, state or federal education officials did not look closely at seminaries, which dealt only with local officials.
Over time, concerns grew about the lack of any effective monitoring of the curriculum, finances, or operations of these schools.
Why did strict laws begin?
The starting point was the 9/11 attacks and the launch of the so-called “war on terror” by the United States. Pakistan, under military leader General Pervez Musharraf, sought to reform the seminaries.
Most of the men who joined armed groups such as al-Qaeda, or those who later founded the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), were exposed as graduates of Pakistan’s higher education institutions, leading the government to declare the proposed reforms “essential” to national security.
Following the deadly TTP attack on the Army Public School, a military-run school, in December 2014 in Peshawar, the Pakistani government launched the National Action Plan, a comprehensive document that sought, among other proposals, to oversee religious registration. seminars.
Between 2018 and 2022, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), which is responsible for money laundering and financing of governments established by the G7 in 1989, put Pakistan on its “grey list” of countries that do not fully comply with its laws. Countries on the gray list are at risk of losing significant foreign investment.
One of FATF’s demands before delisting Pakistan was for the government to bring religious scholars under its control, to ensure transparency in its financial operations.
In 2019, under the PTI government of Prime Minister Imran Khan, the seminaries were reorganized as educational institutions and placed under the Ministry of Education.
This led to the creation of the Directorate General of Religious Education (DGRE), currently headed by Ghulam Qamar, a retired two-star general and counter-terrorism expert.
DGRE mandated annual audits and expanded college curricula to include subjects such as math and science.
Since its inception, more than 18,000 seminarians and two million students have been registered.
However, many seminaries, including those under JUIF, refused to join the program and continued to operate under the Societies Registration Act.
What is the law proposed by JUIF?
JUIF’s amendment to the Organizations Registration Act shifts responsibility for the registration of seminaries back to deputy district commissioners, removing oversight from the Ministry of Education.
The bill also proposes that seminaries with multiple campuses be allowed to register as a single organization, a move JUIF says will reduce government interference and protect the independence of these institutions.
What is the government’s objection?
Minister of Religious Affairs, Chaudhry Salik Hussain, defended the government’s opposition to approving the JUIF bill.
Hussein, in a statement issued by the Ministry of Religious Affairs last week, said that the government wants matters related to education to remain under the Ministry of Education, including the registration of seminaries.
Al Jazeera reached out to Hussain, as well as Information Minister Attaullah Tarar, for comment on the controversy, and why the party’s lawyers in the government supported the bill in parliament by such a large margin in the first place if they had doubts. No one has responded yet.
However, at a recent conference in Islamabad earlier this week, government officials and religious leaders expressed concern about the changes proposed by JUIF. Information Minister Tarar said there were “legal problems” in the bill – without elaborating – and called for a discussion.
The Minister of National Education, Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui, also added that reversing the existing registration system is out of the question, stressing that this move will not meet the needs of the nation.
“Changes in higher education institutions have become a serious matter for national security,” he said.
What does this mean for Pakistani politics?
The Sharif government may no longer urgently need JUIF’s political support after the passage of the 26th amendment. But its failure to keep its commitment to the party that helped it pass a controversial constitutional amendment – which Prime Minister Imran Khan’s PTI says would have weakened the independence of the judiciary – raises questions about the government’s credibility.
“It would be better if the government resolves this issue without creating another mess,” Shahzad Iqbal, an Islamabad-based political analyst, told Al Jazeera.
But that won’t be easy. The government, says Iqbal, seems to be under “pressure from other quarters”, with this bill.
In July, Lieutenant-General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, the head of the press service of Pakistan’s military, Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), during a press conference that more than half of the country’s religious schools are not registered and their details, including. the source of their funding, was unknown.
This, according to Lahore-based analyst, Majid Nizami, is the reason why the ongoing debate about seminaries and their control may ultimately come down – “directly or indirectly” – to what Pakistan’s powerful military wants.
“The DGRE is headed by a former general who has a long history of fighting terrorism,” Nizami told Al Jazeera. “When and if the military establishment gives permission, then the political parties will do that. It is not a political issue; it is a military problem.”
Source link
