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| India-Pakistan |
| Musharraf pitches for moderate Islam |
| 2003-12-04 |
| President Pervez Musharraf Thursday summoned Muslim scholars and clerics to his office to urge them to back his efforts to purge Pakistan of Islamic extremism, officials said. "It is in Pakistan’s best interests to get rid of these evils that hurt the country’s image in the world and undermines national integrity," a senior official quoted Musharraf as telling some 80 scholars clerics at a three-hour meeting. "Image is everything" Officials said the meeting was part of Musharraf’s efforts to muster greater support from the religious right for his plan to reform thousands of Islamic schools (madrassas) by introducing modern subjects side by side with Koranic lessons. Musharraf believes madrassas, while playing a vital role in providing free board and lodging to nearly one million poor children, need to revamp their system of teaching. Many of the madrassas with orthodox systems of education are seen as hotbeds of religious militancy. Jihadi mills cranking out cannon fodder is how they’re seen. Musharraf, a key US ally in the international fight against terrorism, also told the clerics and scholars that he would not tolerate extremist groups, saying they were "not in the interests of Pakistan and we will not let such organisations work in Pakistan." He named Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad, both fighting Indian rule in disputed Kashmir and both outlawed in January 2002. Both re-emerged under new names but only Khudamul Islam, the new name for Jaish, was banned in Musharraf’s latest anti-extremist drive launched last month. Was this Musharraf’s "My way or the highway" speech, or was it just for show? |
| Posted by:Steve |
| #1 How are you going to stop the madrass madness when they are funded by the fundo Saudis? Pakistan's pants are supported by the US on one side and the Saudis on the other. There is not much else holding them up. It is a pathetic country that we are forced to deal with because of they have the easiest access to Afghanistan. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2003-12-4 10:33:39 PM |