Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : America Under Siege: The End of Innocence -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Nadine Carroll who wrote (8877)	10/28/2001 5:57:36 PM
From: Lola	Respond to of 27666

Being tutored to become jehadis New Delhi, October 27 Dotted all over Pakistan are institutions which inject into the minds of their pupils a sort of spiritual orientation which brushes aside modern education and relies on a warped sense of religiosity. This is typical brainwashing with government blessings, resulting in regular assembly-line production of students fed on a narrow and violent version of Islam. A by-product is the “jehadi” mentality which goes against the real meaning of the term. These schools are called madarsaas which provide, besides instructions without tuition fees, free food, housing and clothing. The fundings come from various sources. In southern Punjab, it is the Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan, a sectarian Sunni political party which even reportedly rewards the poor parents for sending their children to such schools. Others are rich industrialists based at home or abroad, government-aided NGOs in Gulf states and Saudi Arabia as well as Iran. In the eighties, military dictator Zia-ul-Haq allowed madarsaas to mushroom as a policy to win the support of religious parties for his rule. At that time many of these schools were financed by “zakat” (compulsory tithe) which gave the state some control over the operations. Subjects like mathematics, science or other secular topics do not form part of the curriculum. The fodder naturally comes from the poor section, the wealthy of course send their wards to the handful of elite institutions in the country. The graduates are naturally incapable of becoming leaders of a modern nation, tutored as they are on extremist ideologies espoused by most of the tens of thousands of madarsaas. No work for them in a society that strives for progress and hence they are encouraged to take up “obligatory” fights against perceived enemies in Jammu and Kashmir or Muslims of other sects inside Pakistan. The “jehad” for them signifies guerrilla warfare and not the scholarly interpretation of self-initiative to purify the soul. And this continues despite official Pakistani condemnation of the widespread practice. Reform plans — such as expansion of curricula, disclosure of money resources, mandatory registration and putting an end to sending students to military training camps — have failed to evoke much cooperation. Some principals even claim that madarsaas are older than the country itself. Back to finance for proponents of the so-called holy war. One can list militant groups like Lashkar-e-Taiba and Ahle Hadith (Wahhabi group) in this regard. These have amassed huge money themselves. Individual Mujahideens also benefit. Their leaders live in luxury and those in the lower rung allegedly earn more than seven times than an average Pakistani, plus commissions for successful missions. Quite attractive in a land of poverty. On top of it is the gun culture left behind as a consequence of anti-Soviet combat when US-Saudi contributions to Afghanistan and Pakistan amounted to nearly $ 3.5 billion. This has made jehad a lucrative business in the region for which Gulf Arabs and Pakistani diaspora not only provide capital but also extremist rhetoric. Given this scenario, Pakistan will find it very difficult to crack down on the madarsaas, the hotbeds of radicalism which will keep on gaining momentum as long as the Kashmir conflict lasts. Many irregulars who fought in Afghanistan are now active in Kashmir, some of them allegedly committed to seeing a Taliban-type regime there. The fact is that madarsaas clearly teach that jehad is a spiritual duty. But for the extremist units, it amounts to terrorism in the guise of jehad for which help from professional criminals is also taken. The rich donate money but keep their sons out of the cause. So the sons from the poor countryside are mostly enrolled and the parents apparently are not too unhappy to see their children “martyred.” Importantly, such families are looked after by the militant groups like the one founded by the Jamaat-e-Islami. Loans are paid off, businesses set up or houses constructed. Charitable organisations to reward the families of martyrs have been established. Thanking them for the sacrifice made to assist Muslim bretheren in Kashmir supplies the necessary emotional consolation. The end result is that Pakistan’s militant groups are exporting their version of holy war all over the world. The trainees are from Nepal, Chechnya, Myanmar, Kuwait, Bangladesh and Yemen. Millions of dollars are being spent on procuring arms, giving education and health a back seat. A jehad mindset, earlier nurtured by the USA, has struck deep roots in the country and assumed destructive ramifications. This can’t be changed overnight. ANI