The Ittehad Tanzeemat Madaris Deenia Pakistan (ITMDP) has rejected the Societies Registration (Amendment) Bill, 2005 passed by the Punjab Assembly on October 21 (Friday), describing it a violation of an agreement between the government and the Alliance of religious seminaries. It asked all the religious institutions in Punjab not to register their institutions till further decision.
ITMDP Secretary Qari Hanif Jhulandari said, "The Societies Registration (Amendment) Act, 2005 is a clear violation of the August 22, 2005 agreement signed between Federal Religious Affairs Minister Ijazul Haq and the ITMDP leaders, and we have rejected it."
He said the federal government should have supplied copies of the amended Societies Registration Act to the provinces, adding the Punjab government has sabotaged the agreement by approving the controversial Act.
The government should ease the registration process, he said, adding the organisation had no objection on providing name, address and heads of seminaries to the government.
"Our accounts are already audited, but the condition for the submission of an affidavit and a filing audit report with the registrar is not acceptable to us," he said.
He announced that protection of religious seminaries in the country would be ensured at all cost, saying that religious seminaries had nothing to do with extremism.
"We will struggle to protect seminaries at the ITMDP platform and we will not allow any one to hijack this platform. The government should conduct investigations against those found involved in suspicious activities and not against foreign students", said Qari Hanif, adding:
Qari Hanif Jhulandari said that high level meeting of religious seminaries of all schools of thought would soon be convened because some leaders had gone to perform Umra.