Pakistan’s religious schools in spotlight again

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - In the wake of the London attacks, Pakistan’s madrassas, or religious schools, are back in the international spotlight, and the Pakistani government is under renewed pressure to reign in organizations that preach hatred and militancy.

Since the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington, the United States has sought Pakistan’s cooperation in cracking down on madrassas that are ideologically, and sometimes militarily, aligned with Taliban and al-Qaida remnants in the region.

Now Britain, reeling from the July 7 terror attacks on the heart of London, is also piling pressure on Pakistan.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair, in a recent statement, condemned madrassa leaders who espouse extremist views and impart them to young students.

“These roots are deep,” Blair said at a recent Downing Street meeting with Afghan President Hamid Karzai. “They are coming about by people indoctrinated at a very, very early age … (who) go to some of these schools, these madrassas, and they get extreme teaching taught at them.”

Blair said the madrassa students “end up in a situation where they actually believe that they are committing the will of god by killing innocent people.”

London link?
The madrassa issue has boiled over again, largely because of reports that bomber Shehzad Tanweer visited a religious school in Lahore, in eastern Pakistan, that is linked to a banned Islamic militant group.

Officials at the madrassa say they have no record of Tanweer studying there. And if he did visit, it’s unclear how his stay influenced his decision or ability to detonate a bomb in London.

Blair and the U.S. administration have recognized the role of madrassas in Pakistan, where intensive religious training turns young men into Islamic scholars. The madrassas also provide basic education for tens of thousands of poor Pakistanis who might otherwise not find places in the government’s overloaded school system.

Western and Pakistani officials estimate there are anywhere from 12,000 to 15,000 madrassas in Pakistan, most of them legitimate, training about 1,000,000 students.

Blair said he had spoken recently to Pakistan's president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, and was satisfied that there is a “real desire and willingness on part of Pakistan's government to deal with madrassas preaching this kind of extremism.”

But it’s a minority of madrassas that worry diplomats and intelligence officials.

Madrassas have also been used as shelters or meeting points for militants, bases for clandestine operations by Taliban and al-Qaida supporters, or training grounds for their soldiers. The banned militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba is believed to have links to the madrassa visited by  Tanweer, intelligence sources say.

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