Pakistani authorities scramble to act as international attention turns to the country's religious schools, writes Iffat Idris from Islamabad Pakistan is once again in the international spotlight, and again for all the wrong reasons. Since London's 7 July bombings that killed over 55 people, it has emerged that not only were three of the four suspected suicide bombers of Pakistani origin but that at least one of them could have attended a madrassa (religious school) in his native land. Shahzad Tanveer, 30, the eldest of the four bombers, visited Pakistan in December 2004, where he is believed to have spent two months at a madrassa in Lahore, capital of Punjab province. This has led to the theory that he was indoctrinated and trained to become a terrorist in the madrassa. Media reports have suggested there is a phenomenon of young British Muslims being sent to madrassas in Pakistan for months or years of religious training. It is not difficult to see why this explanation would appear plausible to British society. The fact that the four suicide bombers were "homegrown" has set off all kinds of alarm bells about the country's 1.6 million Muslims. It is one thing to have to deal with foreign terrorists coming into Britain, quite another to deal with British born and bred terrorists. The possibility that the bombers could have been "brainwashed" in Pakistani madrassas is thus very appealing. The 7 July attacks then become essentially part of a "foreign" phenomenon -- far easier to understand and come to terms with than the homegrown alternative. Pakistan's madrassas certainly provide a plausible explanation. Estimates of the number of madrassas in Pakistan vary from 20,000 to 30,000 or over. They range in size from small village madrassas boasting one teacher and a few dozen students to mini-universities, like the famous Darul Uloom Haqqania in the North-West Frontier Province that has hundreds of students. Madrassas are traditionally associated with religious education: boys and girls go there to learn the Quran and other aspects of Islam. It might appear as if there is nothing controversial in that, but two traits associated with madrassas have made them notorious. The first is their association with religious militancy: acts of violence carried out in the name of Islam. Madrassas were seen as the breeding grounds for "mujahideen" who fought in the Afghan jihad against the Soviet occupation, and subsequently in Indian-held Kashmir. Offshoots of these madrassa-trained jihadi groups are believed to have become sectarian groups, responsible for hundreds of killings inside Pakistan. Most recently, as in the case of Shahzad Tanveer, they are suspected of training Islamic terrorists like those who carried out the bombings in London's underground. Is the reputation of madrassas as training places for Islamic militants justified? Yes and no. No, in that the vast majority of madrassas engage in precisely what they claim to do: imparting religious education to students. Yes, in that a small minority do provide more than just spiritual and ideological training: their students learn how to "wage jihad" as well. But these latter are probably even more of a minority now, since the Musharraf government has for several years been engaged in a campaign to rid madrassas of extremism. Another trait associated with madrassas is extremism of thought. Some madrassas provide their students with a well- rounded education: the Quran and Islam, alongside modern subjects like English and computing. But most focus only on the former, producing graduates ill-prepared for the challenges of the modern world. More disturbing is the narrow-minded, ultra-conservative, jihadist brand of Islam that they teach. This is the kind of Islam that denies rights to women, treats them as second-class citizens, rejects the modern world, is intolerant of others and ultimately advocates -- and in some cases actively participates in -- jihad. In sum, many of Pakistan's madrassas produce if not trained jihadis then certainly people with the mindset and the potential to become them. As mentioned, the Pakistan government has recognised the problem and is endeavouring to tackle it. As far back as 2002, President Musharraf announced a campaign to modernise the madrassas by introducing modern subjects alongside religious ones. All madrassas were to be registered, thereby bringing them into the formal education sector, and making them eligible for state and donor funding. The campaign was a good one, but its implementation never really got off the ground. One reason was strong resistance from the religious parties, who saw the government as acting on the behest of the West and deeply resented outside interference in their institutions. Another was lack of funds and administrative incompetence. This is no surprise, especially when one considers that a major reason for the growth and survival of madrassas in Pakistan is the dire state of government schools (it has long been argued that improving public sector education and making this accessible to all would automatically diminish the appeal of madrassas). Now, once again, the madrassas are in the international spotlight, and the Musharraf government is under pressure to take action. Foreign newspapers have been particularly scathing in their criticism of the government and its failure to follow through on its commitment to carry out madrassa reform. Forced to react to international and domestic pressure after the 7/7 attacks, President Musharraf made a televised address to the nation on Thursday 21 July. Speaking first in English and then in Urdu, the president refused to accept that it was solely Pakistan's responsibility to deal with the terrorist menace. He urged the British government to face up to and address the fact that the suicide bombers were from Britain. "There is lot to be done in England. Three of four suicide bombers had Pakistani origin but they were bred and educated in London." Musharraf also made a general plea to the West to address the root causes of Muslim discontent, like Kashmir and Chechnya. But the president acknowledged that religious extremism was a problem in Pakistani society too. He announced a ban on organisations that had previously been banned but had since re- emerged under different names. He also announced a crackdown on incitement of religious hatred, including the spread of hate literature in mosques. On the subject of madrassas, Musharraf promised that all religious schools in the country would be registered by December 2005. In the days since the 7/7 attacks, and particularly since the president's address to the nation, hundreds of people have been arrested in connection with religious extremism. The problem is that this pattern of terror attacks, announcement of government crackdown, mass arrests has been seen many times before: after the attacks of 9/11, after the attack on the Indian Lok Sabha, after sectarian killings inside Pakistan, and so on. Each time, those detained mostly end up being released and the government's laudable pledges for action remain unimplemented. Until Pakistan takes serious, genuine, sustained action to address the problem of religious extremism within its society it will never escape the international terror spotlight.
