Relooking Madaris of Pakistan
N N Khattak
While Pakistan Army is making steady gains in their assaults on
militants’ strongholds of Sararogha, Kunniguram & Makeen in Waziristan
area, a spate of suicidal bombings on the security forces has thrown
many Pakistanis on the edge all across the country. More than 300 people
have been killed in terrorist attacks in the past month, including 35 in
Rawalpindi when a suicide bomber exploded a device as people queued
outside National Bank of Pakistan (NBP). According to sources, some of
the renegade militants from South Waziristan, have taken refuge in
madrassas and planning terrorist attacks in Islamabad and other parts of
the country.
The security forces have launched a crackdown on seminaries at
Islamabad, searching terrorists hiding in the guise of madrassa
students. The law-enforcement agencies have combed some rural areas,
private guest-houses and hotels, sector F-10 nullah and arrested 520
people including Afghan nationals in different localities of the city.
There are intelligence reports that non-Pakistani (Afghan) “imam masjid”
persons through their provocative speeches/sermons are glorifying the
terrorists/acts of terrorism so as to create a sapping effect on the
on-going “Operation Rah-e-Nijat” in Waziristan. Pakistan has been
hosting 4 millions of Afghan refugees in different parts of the country
since the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979. Most of the Afghan
refugees are simple and religious-minded people. However, some of them
were found involved in providing active support to extremist tendencies.
This is understandably causing great concern for the law and order
situation in Pakistan. Pakistan wants the Afghan refugees to return to
their homeland with dignity and honour.
Side by side, a 15-week Afghan’s registration process was launched by
Pakistan’s National Database and Registration Authority (NDRA) under the
auspices of the States and Frontier Regions Ministry. The registration
of the refugees was meant to know about Afghans living in Pakistan - who
they are, where they live, where they’re from, what they do for a
living, what their needs are. Afghans constitute 6 per cent of NWFP’s
total population and 976,605 Afghans live in 86 camps across Pakistan,
with 55 per cent of registered Afghans living outside camps. The
decision of withdrawing non-Pakistani imam-masjids from the mosques, is
a step in the right direction. Wafaqul Madrassas, a conglomeration of
over 8000 seminaries all over in Paistan, criticised the searches that
could scuttle an agreement it had signed with the government for
revamping the madrassa curriculum by introducing modern education. The
centerpiece of our counterterrorism policies is to flush out these
dangerous militant groups and to sever their links with the madrassas.
Although, most of the religious seminaries are more like orphanages
where poor children are imparted free religious education, lodging and
boarding, but quite a few of them started venting religious extremism to
the immature minds of the young students.
These religious seminaries (Madaris) harbored rigid, uncompromising and
hard-line attitude amongst its adherents and pupils. Today, the madrassa
means to the western world as a “nursery for extremists and fanatics”.
The misnomer associated with the once revered place of learning, needs
to be addressed in a most expeditious way. It is, therefore, imperative
that Pakistani madrassas be reformed, rejuvenated and re-invented, so
that students are taught to become both good citizens and good Muslims.
The stiff résistance posed by the hard-line administrators of 3683
seminaries, resulted in discontinuation of madrassa reform strategy.
This project is now facing closure on June 30, 2010. The 950 teachers
who participated in the scheme are desperately worried about the future
of their pupils if their new lessons are scrapped. They insist that the
programme must continue as madrassa students are getting real benefits
out of it and are entering the field of formal education and computer
technology. Most of the teachers enthralled with the feeling of
“national cause”, want to continue the sacred duty of educating the
marginalized segment of the society. The Ulemas and religious scholars
have a special responsibility to support the project so as to transform
Pakistan into a model of Islamic teachings of peace and brotherhood.
The development of a strong and effective education system in Pakistan
is central to promoting moderation, tolerance, economic development as
well as the crucial objective of rooting out terrorism from this
beautiful planet. |
