Sindh has been feeling the bite of religious extremism for a long time now, but the issue has gained particular urgency after the Shikarpur and Jacobabad blasts targeting the Shia community. These terrorist attacks lifted the veil from the face of extremism in Sindh for the public to know and see.
It is believed that extremist groups have planted firm roots in Sindh and this has unfortunately been linked, in part to the mushrooming of madrassahs across the province.
Official data regarding madrassahs paints a totally different picture from that which one sees on the ground. Many poorer people lack access to schools, and yet madrassahs may be found accessible for most neighbourhoods.
A foreign student at a Karachi madrassah
I asked him where his funding came from. Mufti Naeem’s face showed some anger
Who is funding them? Who allows them to operate freely, unregistered? Why does the government not firmly take action against unregistered madrassahs?
These questions need answering. And that is made even more urgent by the reality of terrorist violence in Karachi and the large number of extremist groups operating in the giant city.
Sometimes, law enforcement agencies succeed in apprehending them but all too many times, terrorists succeed in their atrocious activities. And as a result we can see the ghastly murder of activists like Sabeen Mehmud and even more recently, Khurrum Zaki.
Commentators have pointed out the tragedy of institutions of sacred learning coming under scrutiny for links to terrorism
Therefore, we tried to contact the Special Assistant Religious Affairs and Auqaf for Sindh, Dr. Qayoom Soomro. He did not acknowledge any kind of sectarian violence in Sindh despite the killing of Mr. Khurram Zaki. Dr. Qayoom Soomro said that we could not count this killing as a sectarian act (or that it arises from the threat of extremism) because the investigation into his case is still on. Unless the results of this investigation amount to murder on sectarian grounds, Dr. Soomro insists we ought not to describe it as such.
Dr. Soomro took all credit for his department of religious affairs, stating that it was the first time in the history of the Sindh government that the authorities managed to get all sects to sit down for talks on how to address the growing violence along religious lines. Dr. Soomro insists that this is an achievement on the part of the administration, which must not be understated.
Analysts are alarmed by the rise in militant jihadist activity in Sindh
“What was the purpose of building a madrassah in Dalbandin, at the cost of around 10 million rupees?”
“Let me state here: it is we who stopped operations against madrassahs across Sindh because we believe that those few madrassahs which may be involved in terror activities should be accountable, but others should not suffer because of them,” said Dr. Soomro.
On the question of hate speech in Shikarpur madrassahs, he seemed to agree somewhat. But he insisted that only some people are misusing the shelter of madrassahs and therefore the state must take action against them, not against those which are working fairly. He adds, “We are going to introduce new laws for madrassahs - nobody can now build a madrassah on anyone’s piece of land. They will have to take permission from the District Commissioner, Home Minister and security agencies, and only then will they be able to build their madrassahs. This bill will be passed soon in the Sindh Assembly - around 8,000 madrassahs have been registered across Sindh.”
A child sleeps at the Jamia Binoria seminary
When asked about the reports of some 10,000 ‘ghost’ madrassahs unearthed in Sindh, he completely dismissed such numbers, even though they are have been carried by reputed newspapers. Dr. Soomro claimed that around 2,000 ghost madrassahs are reported as far as he knows. “But we are working on compiling information and registration of madrassahs”, said Dr. Soomro.
I visited Jamia Binoria in order to find out their views on the matter. Mufti Muhammed Naeem met us in his air-conditioned room, where big screens were set up before him to keep an eye on the activity in each madrassah. I managed to stop thinking about how he uses Western technology while attacking Western culture all the time. I asked him my questions on madrassahs. He expressed his agreement with the policies of the government and said “It is no problem if the government wants our madrassahs to audit or register but make sure that those madrassahs can afford the fee for auditing!”
I asked him where his funding came from. Mr. Naeem’s face showed some anger but he managed to answer and refused to acknowledge foreign funding. Local people give them funding and they have their own business to collect some amounts for madrassahs, he insisted. When we inquired, how much income is needed for such an institute, he said around Rs. 10 million are required per month for each institute and they have ten institutes in Karachi.
Sindh is in the midst of an ongoing crackdown by security forces, targetting all kinds of militant outfits
I found it rather odd that the Mufti attacked “British and American propaganda” against madrassahs while simultaneously telling us with pride about how people living in these countries send money for his institutes.
Foreign students study at Jamia Binoria, coming from Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia, for instance.
He further said that he does not have a problem if the government launches an operation on madrassahs, since according to him, 99 percent of the madrassahs stick to purely religious activities.
Like the rest of Pakistan, the province of Sindh too has its battle against fundamentalist violence
“I can show you one madrassah in this area that is fully prepared with weapons”
After Mufti Naeem, we wanted to know another point of view – that of Shia scholars.
Mr. Zulfikar expressed disagreement with the government’s policies and asked, “People do need to go in details. Just see the status of madrassahs before the dictator Zia-ul-Haq and after him, you will get a whole new scenario of madrassahs.”
He asked, “What was the purpose of building a madrassah in the area of Dalbandin and that too at the cost of around 1 crore rupees?”
While criticising the policy of audit and registration of madrassahs, he stated, “These people have their own people who will audit and register madrassahs. They are masters at fooling people. Do you believe that madrassahs would agree to audit their funding? If they agree, it would reveal the real truth behind who is funding them and what is the purpose behind it. Therefore, there is not an honest policy for registration or audits.”
Members of Sindh's religious minorities protest atrocities against their communities in Karachi
Mr. Zulfikar expressed his view that “Zia made mujahideen for Kashmir and later they were used for Saudi Arabia’s strategic designs, as well as to counter Iranian influence. They take innocent children from Waziristan and per child the price has been around 100,000 rupees. They send them to Yemen in order to ‘balance’ the population of Yemen - thus these children are being used for Saudi Arabia’s interests.”
“The government says that madrassahs are working fairly. I can show you one madrassah in this area that is fully prepared with weapons and any time they can go into battle. Tell us: who supports them?” he asked.
“I was performing Hajj and met a young person who was trained from a Karachi madrassah. He can speak Punjabi, Urdu, Arabi and English. You cannot recognise precisely where he is from. His duty was to observe people who speak against Saudi Arabia. In Pakistan, we Shia are in a minority and 80% are Sunni - would anyone ask what kind of education is being given to students of madrassahs who create chaos and beat innocent citizens? What happened in Islamabad, in the Lal Masjid conflagration? Everyone saw it. These madrassahs teach students that people of other sects are more evil than Satan himself. How do they claim that they are engaged in peaceful education?” insisted Mr. Zulifkar.
Policemen at a madrassah - the registration and regulation of these institutions has repeatedly appeared in public debate
He disagreed at the argument that local funding (from Pakistani businessmen and common citizens) is what keeps the hardline madrassahs going. “They are not rich enough for that level of support which we see here. Madrassahs are getting funding from Arab countries and especially Saudi Arabia. If the government is willing to introduce one sermon for everyone, it means they are going to involve the state in religious functions like in Saudi Arabia - where none can speak a single word without permission!” he argued.
Mr. Saqib Memon, at AIG forensics said, “The government needs to introduce a policy for madrassahs systematically, as they did to deal generally with the problem of terrorism. Otherwise you cannot put sufficient checks and balances on them. We all know that madrassahs are being misused and the time has come to reform these institutions and their curriculum.”
Terrorists have taken aim at the Shia community alongside other religious groups in Sindh
He said that madrassahs are filling the vacuum in terms of education. Therefore, the state should step in and provide a decent education to its citizens, so that they do not have to resort to unregistered madrassahs.
Mr. Azfar Mahesar (Senior Superintendent of Police, West Karachi) described the situation of these seminaries saying, “Personally, I am unable to comment about the situation across Karachi but if I speak about my area, it has many unregistered seminaries. While appreciating the National Action Plan which allows us to check seminaries, we still cannot audit their funding. Now, however, we can at least say how many seminaries are registered and how many are unregistered,” explained Mr. Azfar Mahesar.
He further said, “Foreign students are coming here and getting admission in seminaries. We cannot see their syllabus because some seminaries run special classes which give education of ‘jihad’ – and in general all seminaries have a different syllabus anyway.”
Some madrassahs in Sindh have been linked to violent extremism
Mr. Mahesar went on to emphasise the need for proper auditing of madrassahs’ funding.
“We all know that some terrorist organizations are backed by some madrassahs and we must keep an eye on them”, said Mr. Azfar. He suggested that madrassahs ought to fall under the authority of Education ministries in each province. If that were done, the authorities could then scrutinise them and easily audit their resources – and alert law enforcement agencies if they see a problem.
Veengas is a journalist based in Karachi. She can be reached at veengas.journalist@gmail.com and she tweets at: @VeengasJ
