Pakistani madrassas, having come to be viewed with deep suspicion in the West, are seeking to change the perception that they are incubators for extremism that spur young Muslims to commit acts of violence, according to a Washington Times report published on Sunday.Media reports have tied former madrassa students to terrorist attacks in the United States and Europe and to militant groups operating in Afghanistan, but reporter Jason Motlagh finds the reports "hard to reconcile with the atmosphere of Jamia Naimia in Lahore".
"The actions of a small minority have given a bad name to Islam and a centuries-old educational system that can interface with a modern world," he quotes madrassa head Mufti Sarfraz Naimi as saying.
He said it was the duty of the government to 'find and crush' madrassas that preach violence. "We are preparing our students for every field of life," Naimi said. "They can become engineers or imams."
Teachers at the madrassa "promote tolerance above any political alignments, allowing students to form their own opinions independently", another administrator said.
Out of about 150,000 schools nationwide, roughly 15,000 are madrassas, a spokesman for the Ministry of Education told the Washington Times, but "only 1,000 or so have adopted the standardised curriculum".
The report says former president General (r) Pervez Musharraf had pledged in June 2002 to overhaul thousands of madrassas 'under pressure', and the US had 'put up $83 million toward this end', but "Musharraf's efforts were half-hearted, and resistance was strong, according to analysts and current state officials".
Khalid Rahman, director of the Institute for Policy Studies in Islamabad, said that in conservative parts of the country such as the Tribal Areas and Balochistan, religious institutions generally see prescribed reforms as 'out of context' with Islam and the traditional lifestyle. "This does not necessarily mean they are extremists, but because madrassas in these areas tend to play a dominant role in the development of children with limited exposure beyond school walls [it is] easier for them to be converted to any kind of [violent] venture" if influential figures are so inclined, Rahman said.
Asked about the ongoing US missile attacks on suspected Taliban targets that included madrassas, students of the madrassa in Lahore said "they harbour no ill will toward Americans but are angry with the government".
"We are only against their policies that have hurt Muslims," said Akbar Syed, 21, a native of NWFP. "The US wants to treat us like slaves here, when they should treat us like friends."