Pakistan, US take on the madrassahs

"Why should we promote a system that uses religion exclusively as a framework? They have played a negative role, and their influence needs to be minimized, not institutionalized," says Najeeb Anjum, an educator and a retired navy commander.

Mudassir Rizvi, a political analyst who has worked extensively on madrassahs, also takes a dim view of the government's cautious approach to reforming the seminaries.

"The introduction of only elementary subjects in madrassahs cannot make them models. Now, terrorists speak English fluently and can use [the] computer very well," says Mr. Rizvi. "The main issue is to remove sectarian tinges and extremist views from the syllabi of madrassahs and to hold clerics accountable for the massive funding they use to run madrassahs. Unfortunately the key issue has remained on backburner due to the pressure of the clergy."

There were only 137 madrassahs in 1947 when Pakistan came into being after the partition of the Indian subcontinent. The madrassahs flourished in the late 1970s and 1980s during the rule of the late former military dictator, Zia-ul Haq, who patronized the clerics at a time when Pakistan became the front-line of an international fight against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. Land was given to madrassahs and chunks of foreign money poured in from Saudi Arabia, Iraq, the Gulf states, and Iran.

Thousands of students at madrassahs were trained, recruited along with foreign Islamic militants, to wage jihad along with Afghan mujahideen factions against Soviet troops in Afghanistan. The Taliban movement in Afghanistan was directly formed by madrassah students.

Meanwhile, in Pakistan, the institution of the madrassahs turned into the political constituency of Pakistani mullahs, a platform which fosters extremism and sectarianism and is seen as a supply line for jihadist groups.

"They are the biggest charity system in Pakistan providing free meals, board, and lodging to the kids from poor families in the absence of quality educational system. So their world cannot change overnight," says educator and analyst, Tauseef Ahmed.

"If people have the alternative to send their kids to get good and free education in government schools, then half of madrassah students will start going to schools," says Mr. Tauseef.

Interior Ministry officials estimate that around ten percent of madrassahs may have links with sectarian militancy or international terrorism.

"Most madrassahs do not impart military training or education but they brainwash the students and that is more dangerous. The habits can be changed but not the souls. The fairytales of these students come from the battlefield. Thus characters like Osama and Mullah Omar are their heroes," says Tauseef.

In Gujar Khan alone around 50 madrassahs are functional compared with less than 10 government educational institutions. Khwaja Qaisar enrolled his 13-year-old son in Jama Masjid Khulfa-e-Rashideen, a mosque cum madrassah, to memorize the Koran some three years ago. Mr. Qaisar, a former cabdriver in New York, was deported from America in 2002 after strict immigration laws were introduced to check terrorism. His two other sons go to a private school.

"I thought to send my son to [a] madrassah so the sins of my seven generations [can] be washed away and they can be blessed with heaven," he says, referring to the traditional belief that if someone memorizes the Koran, it ensures him and seven generations of his forebears a place in heaven. "I am educated and want him to be a pilot or an engineer after he completes madrassah education."

But the 13-year-old son, Mehr Ali, replies sharply: "I want to be a commando so I can kill all the infidels." His teacher, Qari Zahir Shah, nods in approval.

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