Factories of �Hate� and Pakistan�s fate
Shujaat Bukhari
The influence of Madrassas in Pakistan is not waning. Necessarily all the Madrassas are not responsible for providing fodder to the organisations which have targeted Pakistan for instability. But generally they come from these seminaries only. This trend is also attributed to collapse of public education system. In last 65 years, large swathes of Pakistans territory have remained outside the control of federal government. It ranks 113th of 120 countries in literacy. Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf leader and Member National Assembly Shafqat Mehmood told me that it was wrong to bracket all Madrassas in that category. Not all Madrassas are Jihadi factories. Our party is in the process of creating a common syllabus in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to bridge the gap between different types of education systems, he noted with confidence.
According to an estimate, there are nearly 24,000 registered madrassas in Pakistan and the number of unregistered ones is growing. The number of students enrolled in these madrassas is estimated to be around 3 million. The mechanism to regulate or modernize them has failed, as they believe it was an attempt to dilute their agenda of carrying out their religious duty against the evil.
Under Nawaz Sharifs rule in Pakistan, militants carried out 109 attacks and the number is increasing. Only in two weeks time at least 170 people were killed in these deadly attacks. In a shocking incident recently, 17 members of a family were among 40 killed when a bomb went off in a busy Peshawar market. Factory is the expression used for Madrassas in Pakistan, which churn out Jehadis, who have now been targeting Pakistan for more than 12 years. I asked my friend what if the child just gets the usual religious education in the madrassa instead of joining the militant ranks. He replied: May be he is spared, but boys like him are caught at such a young age that it does not leave much of an option for them but to go by the direction they are
given.
With anti-American feelings reaching a crescendo, the extremist groups did everything to destabilize Pakistan and continue to do so. More than 50,000 people have been killed in 12 years and thousands were injured and there is no let up, even as the democratic government has been in power for over five years now.
In the past few years these forces have virtually put the state on a backfoot. They have twice attacked Parvez Musharraf, while he was in office, killed Benazir Bhutto and not even spared the General Headquarters (of Army), naval base, many more sensitive installations and on the top of it the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) office. The web of Madrassas in Pakistan has become an uncontrollable thing with more than one factors mixing together.
We have prevaricated for too long and allowed the insurgents too much room, a former diplomat, who has worked in Afghanistan, said arguing that a tough message needed to be sent. As of now Nawaz Sharifs carrot and stick policy is facing a bumpy ride, but in case all the organs of state are determined, it may succeed. However, after the recent attacks, the voices of opposition to dialogue are growing louder asking the government to retaliate. Next few months are crucial for Nawaz Sharif as he will have walk a tight rope of pushing for dialogue and also to ensure that less number of civilians are targeted.
Whatever the Madrassa may or may not teach, it is the ground reality in Pakistan and Afghanistan that it is the determining factor regarding violence. Extremism bordering on bigotry exists in almost every country, when it takes a violent turn, as is happening in Pakistan; then the State has to act. Promoting peace via dialogue and protecting the people from acts of violence have to go hand-in-hand.
Successive governments including that of Musharrafs attempted superficial changes but were unable to mainstream madrassa education, given that mainstream education was itself in disarray. How can the collector of a district streamline the madrassa, which is self-sustained and supported by outsiders, when he is unable to streamline schools directly funded by state resources? There has also been no political pressure or directive from the governments, both at the provincial and federal levels, to fix the situation.
Things are further complicated by a nexus of rulers, political parties and their multiple religious supporters. Third, and most importantly, madrassas were allowed to become a hate industry during the 1980s and 1990s, as they served an important foreign policy tool for the military and its ISI to host, train and recruit jihadis, who in turn became Pakistans proxy in Afghanistan. Had the madrassa system been left to itself, it is unlikely to have evolved into what it is today.
If one has to trace the history of their evolution, it can be observed that General Zia started the trend through the use of religious political parties such as the JUI. This served multiple purposes: to sustain the Mujahideen to fight in Afghanistan, provide training grounds, ensure a steady supply of fighters. Both factions of the JUI, led by Samiul Haq and Fazlur Rehman respectively, were more than happy to provide this service through their own network of madrassas. This in turn got them closer to the establishment and ensured substantial funding support.
The madrassa education needs further analysis and understanding. How have these institutions of education and learning ended up as hate factories in Pakistan? Why is this phenomenon restricted only to Pakistan and not other countries where the same institutions are engaged in serving humanity? Why are these particular activities of madrassas supported by Pakistans civil society?
The writer is Editor in Chief of Rising Kashmir
