Frontline Pakistan : The Struggle With Militant Islam - Arz-e-Pak

Nursery for Jihad
frenzied chants of ‘jihad, jihad’ and ‘Allah is the greatest’, as a message
from the Taliban’s fugitive supreme commander, Mullah Mohammed
Omar, was read out to them. The school’s support for radical Islamic
movements was not a secret. It had been the cradle of the Taliban
militia that ruled Afghanistan for more than five years. Many of its
leaders, including several cabinet ministers, had graduated from the
school. It had also been a recruiting centre for dozens of Pakistani
militant groups fighting Indian forces in Kashmir. Many of the school’s
three thousand students were from Afghanistan and former Soviet
Central Asia. 1 Some had taken part in the ‘holy wars’ in Afghanistan
and Kashmir. ‘Jihad is an essential part of Islam,’ Haq asserted.
The proliferation of jihadist organizations in Pakistan over the
previous two decades had been the result of a militant culture
espoused by radical madrasas like Darul Uloom Haqqania. Thousands
of madrasas across the country became hubs for militancy and
religious extremism, having a spill-over effect and presenting a serious
threat to Pakistan’s internal security. Pakistani madrasas were once
considered centres for basic religious learning, mostly attached to
local mosques. The more formal ones were used for educating clergy.
The development of simple, sparse religious schools into training
centres for Kalashnikov-toting religious warriors was directly linked
with the rise of militant Islam. Many of the religious parties operating
the madrasas turned to militancy courtesy of the US-sponsored jihad
in Afghanistan. From waging jihad against infidels in that foreign
land, taking on perceived enemies of Islam at home was just a small
step away. The influx of huge sums of money and a growing sense
of power transformed the mullah’s image from that of a docile and
humble man to a mafia thug with a four-wheel-drive Jeep and armed
bodyguards. The influence of mullahs with local Pakistani leaders
had also become formidable. Successive governments ignored their
activities out of political expediency and also because most of the
foreigners supporting them were ‘brotherly Muslim’ countries.
The Islamic revolution in Iran in 1979 opened up the first wave of
foreign funding for madrasas in Pakistan. Fearful of growing Iranian
influence and the spread of revolution, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and
some other oil-rich Muslim countries started pumping money into
hardline Pakistani Sunni religious organizations willing to counter the
supposed Shia threat. 2 Millions of dollars were poured into setting
up madrasas across the country, particularly in Balochistan province,
bordering Iran. The Islamization process started by General Zia ul-Haq’s