This, of course, is just one madrassa. We do not know how many others may be running with the purpose of pursuing a particular jihadi or militant ideology. It is known that tens of thousands of seminaries operate across the country; their number continues to increase as poverty and the desperation of parents rise. It is true, as Maulana Fazlur Rehman stated recently during a rally in Karachi that not all these madrassas are responsible for spreading terrorism. But the point is that a very large number promotes an extremist mindset that feeds in to the thinking of groups such as the Taliban. It is for this reason that we need to keep a very close eye on seminaries operating in cities and towns across our country. In some ways, it is ironic that the JUI-F chief, who had so fervently defended madrassas, is the patron-in-chief of the institution which has now been placed under watch.
It is also ironic that this seminary, based in the Raiwind area, as we are told is affiliated with the Wafaqul Madaris. One would have thought that the central body regulating madrassas would adopt more caution in those it chooses to register. The situation leaves open the question of what is happening at the majority of madrassas which are unregulated and unrecorded in any way. Pakistan has come to be seen as a world centre of militant training. Somehow, for the sake of our country, we need to change this image.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 1st, 2012.
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