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KARACHI: Head of his own faction of the Jamiat-i-Ulema Islam (JUI-F) Maulana Fazlur Rehman warned the Sindh government on Sunday to refrain from making laws ‘discriminatory against madressahs’ and other religious bodies, otherwise religious leaders, scholars and cadres would have no other option but to take ‘direct action’.
“Those who are targeting madressahs are serving the agenda of their foreign masters,” said Maulana Rehman while addressing a workers’ convention organised by the party’s Karachi organisation at the Jamia Anwaarul Uloom, Mehran Town in Korangi.
He said all religious schools were being run within the ambit of law of the land and the religious parties and the madressah management boards would not accept at any cost if the government wind them up.
He said certain forces were targeting madressahs in the country despite the fact that they were being run within the ambit of the laws of the country, yet the rulers were trying to tighten the noose around them in the name of new laws, which would not be acceptable to the religious bodies.
“We’ll utterly reject it if the Sindh government tried to make a law without taking ulema and madressah managements on board,” Mr Rehman said.
“I warn you,” he said loudly, “don’t impose dictatorship on madressahs in the garb of democracy. We’ll smash all such attempts to smithereens.”
“You’ll have to keep us happy if you want to continue your rule, otherwise, your government can never last longer,” he claimed.
He said his party had no presence in the Punjab Assembly which passed the women’s rights bill. “Yet, I went on protest and forced the government to withdraw its bill because it was against the Sunnah and the Holy Quran,” he said, adding, a similar situation arose in Peshawar, which too was aborted “because of our struggle”.
“Recently, we got removed all those clauses from the draft law about Halal Food Authority, which were against the Quran and the Sunnah before it was formally passed in the parliament.”
He said anti-Islam forces wanted to make such laws aimed at tightening the noose around Muslims and the ‘righteous ulema’ but, “we’ll not allow such attempts to succeed”.
He said people blamed him for being a supporter of the government. “Yes, I am a supporter of the government, but can anyone prove and tell me if I have bargained on principles while supporting the government.”
He claimed the Sindh government’s draft law on madressahs was ‘mala fide’.
“We’ll resist it if it [law] was promulgated by force. We’ll not let the government implement the law if it tried to do it without consulting us.”
“Rest assured that no one will be permitted to pass a law against Sharia and madressahs.
“Jamiat-i-Ulema Islam does not represent any particular school of thought but the whole ummah in the National Assembly. We do politics in the world not for some specific jurisprudence but the whole humanity,” said the Maulana. -DN
THE PASHTUN TIMES
