President Asif Ali Zardari has raised eight objections over the Societies Registration (Amendment) Bill, 2024, under which religious seminaries are to be registered as societies.

 

The Societies Registration (Amendment) Bill, 2024, was passed by both houses of the parliament in October, but was returned to the National Assembly by the president at the time of assent.

 

According to reports, President Zardari pointed out several flaws and procedural errors in the bill, which, he said, contradicted existing laws. The president also believed said laws could lead to seminaries being used for other purposes than education, reports added.

 

As per the details of the objections, the law could result in the “spread of sectarianism”, and the formation of several madrassas in the same society could lead to the “deterioration of the law-and-order situation”.

 

President Zardari expressed fear that if the bill was enacted into law, it could have negative consequences for Pakistan’s international standing.

 

He said that bypassing the current registration process could lead to adverse reviews by international bodies such as the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), and might also affect the European Union’s Generalised Scheme of Preferences Plus (GSP+) programme.

 

It merits mention that the GSP scheme allows developing countries, including Pakistan, to benefit from preferential access to the EU market by exempting certain goods from import duties. The EU cuts its import duties to zero on more than two-thirds of the tariff lines of their export to those country's products, which implements 27 international conventions on human rights, labour rights, good governance, press freedom and the environment. Pakistan was awarded the GSP Plus status in 2014.

 

Furthermore, President Zardari highlighted that the Societies Registration Act, 1860, was applicable within the limits of Islamabad, but the clause regarding the applicability of the new amendments only in the federal capital was not included in the bill.

 

Referring to the Madrassa Education Board Ordinance 2001 and the Islamabad Capital Territory Trust Act, 2020, the president said that the new legislation could not be enacted in the presence of both acts.

 

Additionally, he objected to the contradiction in the definition of madrassa in various provisions of the new bill. 

 

It may be noted that the bill seems to be becoming the latest bone of contention between major power players, including the president, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) led federal government and members of the opposition, especially Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman.

While Prime Minister (PM) Shehbaz Sharif has written to President Zardari, urging him to approve the amendment bill, Maulana has criticised the president over delays in the same.