Ever since the menace of terrorism has picked up pace with regular waves of terror incidents
PESHAWAR: Ever since the menace of terrorism has picked up pace with regular waves of terror incidents, religious clerics, seminaries or madrassas have been somehow linked to the former as their harbinger. The commonly echoed narrative is of suicide bombers — militants being taught misconstrued religious interpretation and trained as suicide bombers in madrassas. Considering this common belief is not completely deniable, following the brutal APS attack of 2014, the government aimed to introduce madrassa reforms to mainstream the curriculum taught in madrassas with that of the other educational institutions with introduction of subjects like social studies and general science.
However, even after three years of the APS attack no progress has been made in the implementation of the reforms. As both sides blame each other for non-cooperation, it is certainly going to be the government in the end bearing the brunt of the consequences in varying forms, like it has always been accused globally of not doing enough to counter terrorism emanating from religious institutions. Further, successful implementation of the National Action Plan is contingent upon complete execution of madrassa reforms. The long history of suicide attacks for which later extremist militant organisations claim responsibility should have been tragic enough to wake the authorities out of slumber, and make them realise the extent to which fanaticism has engulfed the country.
Zuhaib Ahmad
Published in The Express Tribune, October 11th, 2017.
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