Posted on 03/23/2002 3:09:01 AM PST by knighthawk
PAKISTAN'S madrassas show no sign of reforming, writes Julius Strauss in Rawalpindi
The young faces gathered around, glowering. "May Osama bin Laden have a long life," one of the young men said.
"May sharia be made law in every country in the world," said a second. Others, barefoot on the filthy pavement, nodded their approval.
Outside the Jamia Islamia madrassa in Rawalpindi the students gathered to deride their pro-Western government, cheer al-Qa'eda and pour scorn on American-led efforts to defeat Islamic militancy.
They exuded a hatred born of years of indoctrination and an acute suspicion of Westerners. "He's a CIA spy," whispered one man in the crowd. "Shun him, say nothing."
This is only one of thousands of religious schools in Pakistan that feed the anti-Western fervour sweeping the country. Until last autumn militants were based openly at some of the more famous madrassas, spreading the gospel of extremism.
Now they have been forced underground by the government's moves against them.
Mardan, a skinny teenage student who came to Rawalpindi from the lawless North West Frontier Province, said: "We are all ready to fight the Americans. We only await the word from our leaders."
Nasir, a 23-year-old with a full, red-streaked beard, said: "I will serve Islam whatever it takes. If I am asked to fight, I am ready."
Since September 11, President Pervaiz Musharraf has announced a series of campaigns to root out terrorism in Pakistan.
As a result militant demonstrations have petered out and more than 2,000 activists have been detained, but government officials admit privately that the arrests have failed to net many of the big fish.
Diplomats fear that the moves have simply pushed the extremists underground where disparate groups have forged a common front intent on launching an escalating terror campaign.
Gen Musharraf announced this week that he was intensifying a campaign to stamp out militancy after hand-grenades were thrown into an international church last Sunday, killing five people, including two Americans.
Foreigners are slowly returning to the streets of Islamabad, partly reassured by the deployment of hundreds of armed police and paramilitary guards. But in the capital's sprawling neighbour, Rawalpindi, not one Westerner could be seen yesterday.
The students have been raised on a diet rich in Islam but lacking other fundamental disciplines. They are expected to learn the Koran by heart, usually in Arabic, a language they do not speak. Although they have spent years studying, few are educated in the Western sense of the word.
Most of the boys and men at the schools today are too young to have fought with the Taliban in Afghanistan. Others have kept their pasts hidden from the police, who pay regular visits.
But as pressure on the militants has increased, they have stepped up attacks against government and Western targets, a sign that the movement has lost none of its potency.
As part of an attempt at root-and-branch reform of the country, the president is seeking to modernise the madrassas. Students from other Islamic countries have been told that they must obtain residency permits or leave Pakistan.
In an attempt to force the schools to offer a more balanced curriculum, the government has also decreed that mathematics, science and languages must be taught alongside Islamic studies.
But the national school system is in a state of collapse and madrassas, which are privately funded and give bed and board to the most needy, offer the only refuge available for more than 500,000 students.
And the Arabs are in need of a new allah, this one is defect!
DITTO !!
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