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Pakistan Places Madrassahs Under Close Scrutiny
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Pakistani students learn the Noble Qur’an at a madrassah (religious school) in Karachi. (Reuters)
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ISLAMABAD,
July 19, 2005 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – Despite
rejecting the alleged link between its madrassahs (religious schools)
and "terror" or "evil ideologies", Pakistan have
placed the seminaries under close scrutiny for clues on the London
blasts.
Detectives
have visited madrassahs in Karachi, Lahore, Faisalabad and Multan
after it was discovered that three of the four bombers visited
Pakistan in 2004, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported Tuesday, July
19, citing unidentified security officials.
“We
are frantically searching for clues on what they did during their stay
in Pakistan and whom they met,” a senior security official, who
asked not to be named, told AFP.
Pakistan,
however, has rejected British accusations that its madrassahs were to
blame for brainwashing London bombers, saying the British government
should look at its own problems and understand the root causes of
terrorism.
“It
is important not to pin blame on somebody else when the problem lies
internally,” Pakistani Ambassador to the United Nations Munir Akram
told BBC Radio’s the World this Weekend program.
Officials
told AFP that a small fraction of the country's estimated 10,000
madrassahs are breeding grounds for extremism, and President Pervez
Musharraf has been campaigning since early 2003 for their reform.
On
Monday, July 18, Musharraf urged a “jihad” against extremism and
called on Pakistanis to reject terror.
“Terrorism
in the name of Islam -- launching bomb attacks in London in the name
of Islam -- is not Islam,” Musharraf, a key ally in the US “war on
terror” since the September 11, 2001 attacks, told a youth
convention in Islamabad Monday.
“The
entire nation has to reject extremism,” he said. “Stand up and
launch a jihad against extremism -- and jihad for peace, brotherhood
and unity in the society.”
Security
Cooperation
Pakistan
says it is fully cooperating with the British government in the
investigation into the July 7 blasts, which killed at least 56 people
and injured 700.
Immigration
authorities have said that two bombers, Shahzad Tanweer and Mohammad
Sidique Khan, arrived together at Karachi airport November 19 and left
almost three months later.
The
third bomber, 18-year-old Hasib Hussain, arrived last July via Saudi
Arabia but his point of departure has not been established, according
to immigration officials. The three were all Britons of Pakistani
origin.
“So
far we have not found the links of Tanweer and Khan to Hussain, but it
could be possible that they were on different assignments,” a
Karachi-based intelligence official told AFP.
Videotapes
have shown the three men arriving at Karachi airport although foreign
ministry spokesman Jalil Abbas Jilani said he did not have official
information that the three had visited the country.
Last
week, British authorities sent a list of telephone calls that were
made from a number used by at least one of the bombers. Pakistani
authorities quizzed six people but cleared them after discovering the
calls were related to business.
Investigators
also questioned a business family in the eastern city of Lahore which
had made several calls to a suspect in the bombing who remains at
large.
The
suspect has been identified as Haroon Rasheed Aswad, a British Muslim
of Indian origin, whose father runs a business shop in London.
“We
questioned the family in Lahore and have found that the calls were
about business matters,” a Lahore-based security official said.
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