Islamabad – In response to the President’s objections to the Religious Seminaries Registration Bill, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) leader Hafiz Hamdullah has criticized the move, stating that the objections have brought the “cat out of the bag.” He argued that the true aim of the bill is to comply with the demands of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and place seminaries under its control.
Hamdullah contended that these objections reveal that the real purpose is to subject religious seminaries to FATF’s influence, implying that the Parliament of Pakistan is no longer independent in its legislative process, but rather a “Parliament of FATF.” He questioned whether FATF would dictate which institutions should operate under which laws.
He further criticized the President’s office, claiming that officials in the Presidency were unfamiliar with the Societies Act. Had they been familiar, they wouldn’t have raised objections. He sarcastically questioned whether the Societies Act was meant for fine arts, pointing out that there are negligible fine art institutions in the country. Hamdullah dismissed the objections to the seminaries bill as nothing more than “a joke.”
