It would be like the merger of “a lion and a goat” if the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf and the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam unite for Islamabad mach, former senator Saifullah Khan has said.

“It would be like fire and water. They are two different ideologies,” he said while appearing on Rubaroo which was aired on Aaj News on Saturday.

He was asked about the possibility of any alliance between jailed former prime minister Imran Khan’s PTI and Maulana Fazlur Rehman’s JUI-F for a march to the federal capital in favour of the seminary bill.

Saifullah did not explain whom he referred to as “lion” and “goat”.

The religio-political party has given December 8 deadline to the government for enacting the Societies Registration (Amendment) Bill, a legislation intended to register madressahs.

The Societies Registration (Amendment) Bill, 2024, is legislation stemming from an agreement between the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl and the government in support of the 26th Constitutional Amendment. It extends the provisions of the Societies Registration Act of 1860 and introduces regulations for the registration of ‘Deeni Madaris’ through the relevant deputy commissioner’s office.

Under the new bill, seminaries with multiple campuses would require only a single registration. Each institution is mandated to provide an annual report detailing its educational activities to the registrar. Furthermore, every madrasah is required to have its financial accounts audited and to submit the audit report to the registrar as well. The bill also prohibits seminaries from teaching or disseminating materials that endorse militancy, sectarianism, or religious hatred.

So far, the PTI has not given any indication about participating in it. When Sunni Ittehad Council Chairman Sahibzada Hamid Raza asked about it on Friday, he said that the party would have moral support for the JUI-F but there were not join them. “If such a situation arises we will decide after consultation.”

Saifullah went on to explain the two political parties had a rivalry in the past where they made allegations against each other.

According to the senior politician, the government should make decisions which are in favour of Pakistan. “Not just they take that decision for power and not make this a tradition.”

The politician added that he opposed the parliamentary form of government as a change in leaders did not make any impact. “For us, like the US and many European states presidential system is better.”

Pakistan bearing the brunt of old mistakes: Saifullah

Pakistan was bearing the brunt of old mistakes, former senator Saifullah Khan has said as the country deals with unrest and law and order situation in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

“You cannot hide anything in today’s world where social media is present,” he said.

The former senator shared that when he went to Balochistan as a petroleum minister in 1985, Anwer Isa, former chief justice of Pakistan Qazi Faez Isa’s elder brother, asked him for gas service near Quetta. Saifullah agreed to it and he would ask the general manager of the body, but Anwer replied that even Quetta does not have gas.

He added that it took the country 33 years to transfer gas from Sui, Balochistan to Quetta while the utility had already reached big cities of the country.

“When you humiliate [Baloch] them… God sees everything,” the senior politician said and added that he called for appointing two ambassadors from Balochistan and Pashtun. He stressed the need for giving rights and due royalty to provinces.

In response to a question, he said that it was a war for power, not any “freedom”. He was of the view that a strong opposition and an independent media were more beneficial to the government than a weak or pressurised one.

Saifullah also shared that former president Musharraf told him “I believe in action not reaction” when he advised him not to impose emergency on November 3, 2017. Moreover, he claimed that several officials opposed judicial inquiry over May 12 events, which killed 50 people.

While recalling an encounter with former US secretary of state Richard Armitage, the former minister said that Armitage left the event when he told participants that Pakistan lost so many lives and suffered economic losses due to terrorism.

He also once asked former Afghanistan president Hamid Karzai in Pashto to explicitly name those who, according to them, attacked the girls’ and children’s schools at the border with Pakistan

Unrest in KP

When asked how the situation in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s bordering areas would improve, he said: “I will request that those people who make Afghan policy don’t know the difference between Akhrot and Kharooti. Some people believe Akhrot’s matter is Kharooti whereas Kharooti is a Pashtun tribe.”

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Saifullah called for involving Pashtun in Afghan policy making.

“When I was the foreign affairs committee chairman, I said that for Pakistan, the most important capital is Kabul as we havea 2,200km border with Afghanistan. What will result if you have worse ties.”

He urged the government to review its policy of sending back Afghan nationals to their country. “If your ties are not good with Afghanistan, then India will take advantage of this and Pakistan will suffer loss.”

He revealed that it was his cousin, the wife of former army lieutenant general (retd) Ali Kuli Khan Khattak, who said that “Nawaz Sharif would be dethroned after one year.”