JUBAIL, SAUDI ARABIA: After the shooting of a madrassa teacher on December 3, Karachi again saw a bout of violence. The result was a lot of hooliganism, mostly by students of the madrassa where the deceased used to teach. Most of the media, for some reason, referred to the hooligans as “unknown” though it was clear to just about everyone who they were. Several television channels reported that the teacher used to be a qazi in Kabul when the Taliban were in power in the mid-1990s. While the man’s death is most unfortunate, it does give rise to the question about what he was doing in Karachi in the first place.
For how long will we continue to behave in an apologetic manner when it comes to issues related with people attached to seminaries? In the past, we have repeatedly seen violent acts by those who turned out to be students of such madrassas and it would be fair to say that many of them end up being recruited by jihadi and militant outfits.
We should all realise that there is no magic wand to stop terrorism and that no one will come from outside and help us get rid of it — rather, we will be rid of it only when we look inward and understand that it is a problem within us. We are the ones who raised, promoted, supported and financed groups in the name of jihad and these groups are now killing one another.
Masood Khan
Published in The Express Tribune, December 8th, 2012.
