Checks on madressahs

[ravaila]

The demand by a group of ulema that the government should conduct raids on ‘all madressahs’ serves to highlight the rising awareness in the nation of the threat to Pakistan from religious extremism.

At a meeting held in Lahore on Sunday to observe the chehlum of Maulana Sarfraz Naeemi, the ulema suggested raids on madressahs to make sure that they did not have a terrorist agenda. Last week, we know how a blast flattened many homes in a village near Mian Channu, killing 12 people. It later transpired that the explosion occurred in the stockpile of arms and ammunition which a man running a seminary attached to his home had allegedly managed to store.

The seminary taught the Holy Quran to the village’s boys and girls and under its cover the man— who had gone to Afghanistan to acquire training and was known to the police — was said to be training suicide bombers. Reportedly he also wanted to assassinate the prime minister While the scholars’ demand for raids can be understood in view of the gravity of the situation, what is actually needed is a system of perpetual monitoring of madressahs.

A raid that yields no information about covert activities will be counterproductive and will expose the government to the charge of harassing madressahs believed to be imparting normal religious instruction. Whether it is sources of funding from abroad, propaganda or hate literature, the intelligence agencies need to closely monitor the working of all madressahs. Action must be taken where positive proof exists of anti-state activities. That the demand for raids has come from a section of the ulema is indicative of the fact that the Taliban and their supporters are becoming increasingly isolated because of their barbaric ways and the threat they pose to Pakistan