Madrassas in Pakistan

NO 11 IPCS ISSUE BRIEF SEPTEMBER 2003 Madrassas in Pakistan Suba Chandran Assiatant Director, IPCS There are an approximate 28,000 madrassas in Baluchistan were encouraged to enroll them. In Pakistan with only 8,000 of them registered. due course, the madrassas in these two provinces According to the Human Rights Commission of became recruiting grounds for the mujahideens. Pakistan (HRCP) 2002 report, by March 2002, Secondly, the dynamics of the war also there were around 600,000 students in 6,000 necessitated training in weapons and guerilla registered madrassas with more than 250,000 warfare, which the State encouraged directly - by students in Punjab alone. The proliferation of providing funds, weapons and training - madrassas began in the 1980s and continued in and indirectly - by turning a blind eye to what was the 1990s. Compared to their number in 1979, happening. Thus, the proliferation of madrassas and when there were less than 2,000 madrassas, their the change in their orientation in the NWFP and growth has been tremendous. They are now seen Baluchistan were the direct result of a deliberate and portrayed as fundamentalist institutions and state policy that was tailored for to Afghan policy. breeding grounds for militants to wage a jihad all However, the spurt in the growth of the madrassas over the world. From being established centers of in Punjab and Sind in the 1980s and 1990s was for learning in the middle-ages, they have traveled a different reasons. It was unfortunate that in the long way. How did this change come about and 1980s Pakistan had to bear the brunt of the what can Pakistan do about it? Khomeini revolution in Iran followed by the Iran-Iraq Madrassas: The Detrimental Growth war. The war divided the entire Ummah along Shia and Sunni sectarian lines. The Shia and Sunni This change was neither sudden nor countries extended support to their communities unintentional. Many events, both inside and against each other. With the interests of these outside Pakistan, impinged directly and indirectly sectarian groups being threatened by the on the madrassas system. The Islamization policies Islamization measures introduced by Zia, these of Zia have been repeatedly blamed for their groups scouted around for external funds. growth, but other significant reasons have been Enormous funds started flowing into Pakistan to underplayed. Apart from Zia’s Islamization drive, protect their sectarian interests. Punjab and Sind Pakistan’s policies during the Afghan War in the became the main victims of this sectarian struggle, 1980s following the entry of Soviet troops into and the alarming growth of madrassas in the 1980s Afghanistan changed the nature and number of was primarily designed to safeguard these interests. madrassas in Pakistan; in their effort to sustain the The formation of militant sectarian organizations war, the Afghan resistance groups and Pakistan, such as the Sipah-e-Sahaba and Sipah-e- backed by the US, were in continuous need of Mohammad, and subsequent organized violence the mujahideens. Since the Afghan refugee in select districts of Sind and Punjab changed the population in Pakistan was steadily growing, the orientation of these madrassas. While the refugee students became ideal recruits; neither madrassas in Baluchistan and NWFP fed the Afghan the Pakistani government nor the refugees could war, those in Punjab and Sind became recruiting afford to educate the Afghan children in state- grounds for sectarian violence inside Pakistan. run schools. The madrassas in the NWFP and However, unlike Baluchistan and NWFP, the growth MADRASSAS IN PAKISTAN PAGE 2 of madrassas in Punjab and Sind did not result governments spent less than one percent of from any deliberate state policy. This distinction is their GDP on education, and even this important to bear in mind. minimum expenditure on education never reached the schools. With corrupt In 1989, a good opportunity existed to bring about governments, governance levels declined changes in these madrassas; the war in continuously. As a result, many schools were Afghanistan and the war between Iran and Iraq without buildings and teachers. Worse, many had ended and a democratically elected schools became the party offices of local government was emplaced in Pakistan. politicians belonging to either the PPP or the Unfortunately, the state failed to act and the PML-N. The declining standards of education growth of madrassas continued unabated in state-run institutions, coupled with their through the 1990s, facilitated by three factors. economic non-viability, became the primary • First, the changed Kashmir policy of Pakistan reason for parents to send their children to the since 1989. The jihad in Kashmir needed new madrassas. Additionally, parents, especially recruits, especially after the Jammu and from the lower and middle classes, preferred Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) led by Yasin the madrassas as they provided Malik fell out of Pakistan’s favour due to its pro- accommodation, food and some kind of independence stand. Pakistan wanted its scholarship. The madrassas also took care of proxies and started using Afghans and their students’ future of by employing them in Pakistanis in Kashmir. The growth of the madrassas or related activities to some extent. Lashkar-e-Toiba out of the Markaz-dawa-al- Dealing with Madrassas Arshad was no coincidence. Thus the madrassas again became fertile recruiting Notwithstanding their laudable objectives in the grounds, only this time for fighting on the initial years, madrassas have come a long way on eastern front. the negative path. If the main reason for the harmful changes in the 1980s were due to state • Second, the failure of the Afghan mujahideen policies or lack of them, then a change in policy and the changed Pakistani policy in or a different strategy could enable the Afghanistan. In the 1990s, it started supporting madrassas to regain their original objectives. An the Taliban, integrated plan, focusing on various social, students drawn economic, educational and political aspects mainly from the While the madrassas in could enable Pakistan to rid itself of the present various Baluchistan and NWFP fed madness unleashed by the madrassas. madrassas in the Afghan war, those in Pakistan. It is an Given the social and economic setup of Pakistan, Punjab and Sind became open secret that madrassas can play a positive role in shaping its recruiting grounds for these madrassas society. In other words, by integrating them with were closed the mainstream they can be shaped to play the sectarian violence inside down to allow original role for which they were meant. Besides, Pakistan. However, unlike their students to any plan to curb them would not be practical at go and fight the ground level, at least in the near term future, Baluchistan and NWFP, along with the and it would be prudent for the government to the growth of madrassas in Taliban against initiate steps that would integrate the madrassas Punjab and Sind did not the Northern into the educational system. The strategy should Alliance. to be integrate and not isolate them. result from any deliberate state policy • Third, bad • Regulate the Curriculum governance. A major strategy could be to regulate their Governments led curriculum. As it stands now, the madaris, and not by Nawaz Sharif and Benazir Bhutto failed to the state, has control over what is to be taught. In improve the standards of education in some madrassas, modern subjects like computer Pakistan. As a result, the standard of state science are being taught, but in many others the education fell dramatically. The democratic NO 11 PAGE 3 syllabi remains medieval and taught by ulemas State control over education would reduce with a narrow understanding of religious and religious violence to a great extent. Sectarian global issues. violence, which was prevalent in educational institutions in the 1980s, has dissipated somewhat, The state should take vigorous steps to integrate primarily due to governmental efforts. Despite the madrassas into mainstream education. The occasional violent incidents on campus, education policy (1998-2010) of Pakistan also sectarianism is no longer the causative force. seeks to “evolve an integrated system of national education by bringing Deeni Madaris and modern • Regulate the schools closer to each stream in curriculum and Funding Invariably, each madrassa is the contents of education.” Besides providing a While some run by an ulema who views uniform syllabus, the state should at least provide madrassas have the salary of the teachers, and prescribe minimum it as a personal fiefdom and permanent qualifications for their appointments. Such a a source of power - both sources of measure would regulate the quality of teachers, income which social and political. They but also make them accountable to the state. produce regular are naturally against any Gen Musharraf had initiated few measures to returns, most of regulate the madrassas, but they have not been them run mainly control by the government fruitful. The military regime promulgated the Deeni on funds as it would erode their Madaris (Voluntary Registration and Regulation) mobilized inside power base. madrassas with Ordinance in June 2002in an attempt to register and outside the the madrassas. More than a year after its country. There is other educational promulgation, the Ordinance has not been fully no monitoring on institutions implemented due to resistance from the how much madrassas. The government wilted under pressure money comes from the Ittehad Tanzeem-I-Madaris Deeniya - a from abroad. For example, according to a news joint platform for the religious groups and the report in The News, a leading daily in Pakistan, madrassas - which threatened to start an foreign sources accounted for 74 percent of the agitation all over the country. To reach a funding in Punjab. Hence, the threat by the compromise, the government agreed to amend regime that only registered madrassas would the ordinance to ensure its acceptance by the receive assistance from the Zakat did not cut ulema and established a body of government much ice.

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