ISLAMABAD: Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari on Sunday signed into law a bill relating to the registration of madrasas (religious seminaries) in the country, following months of delay despite its passage from parliament.
The Societies Registration (Amendment) Bill, 2024 was passed by both houses of Pakistan parliament in October this year, but it was caught in limbo after President Zardari cautioned parliamentarians to consider international obligations before altering existing procedures to register religious seminaries.
The main sticking point was that the new bill amended the existing procedure for registering madrasas with the education ministry and says the institutions should be affiliated with the industries ministry instead.
“The Societies Registration (Amendment) Bill, 2024 is assented to, as advised by the prime minister,” read a notification signed by President Zardari.
Although the notification was dated Dec. 27, but it was issued to media on Sunday, Dec. 29.
Every religious seminary existing before the commencement of the Societies Registration (Amendment) Act, 2024, if not already registered, shall get itself registered under the Act within six months from the commencement of the Societies Registration (Amendment) Act, 2024, according to the new law.
A seminary established after the promulgation of the new law will get itself registered under the Act within one year of its establishment.
The passage of the bill was widely reported to have been one of the conditions on which the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI) religious party supported the coalition government of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and helped it secure two-third majority required in parliament to pass the 26th Constitutional Amendment in October.
The JUI religious party, which rigorously campaigned for the bill in recent months, welcomed Sunday’s development and said it would continue to play its role in “protecting religious seminaries.”
“Religious schools are the fortress of Islam and the guardians of Pakistan’s ideological geography,” it said in a statement.
“Unity of [religious] scholars is important for the protection of religious institutions.”

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Sunday expressed condolences for the loss of lives after at least 120 people were killed when a passenger plane crashed upon landing in South Korea. 

The incident took place on Sunday morning as the Jeju Air flight, carrying 175 passengers and six crew from Thailand’s capital Bangkok, caught fire after skidding off a runway and crashing at the Muan International Airport. 

South Korea’s National Fire Agency said 120 people have been killed in the plane crash while two people have been rescued, both of them being crew members.

“Deeply saddened to learn about the tragic plane crash at Muan International Airport in Korea resulting in the loss of so many lives,” Sharif wrote on social media platform X.

“In this hour of grief, our thoughts and prayers are with the bereaved families and with the people and the Government of Republic of Korea,” he added. 

Muan fire chief Lee Jung-hyun told reporters that the fire was extinguished at 1:00 p.m. local time.

“Only the tail part retains a little bit of shape, and the rest of (the plane) looks almost impossible to recognize,” he said.

Authorities have switched from rescue to recovery operations and because of the force of the impact, are searching nearby areas for bodies possibly thrown from the plane, Lee added.

The two crew were being treated at hospitals with medium to severe injuries, said the head of the local public health center.

Investigators are looking into bird strikes and weather conditions as possible factors, Lee said. Yonhap cited airport authorities as saying a bird strike may have caused the landing gear to malfunction.

With inputs from Reuters