The rot around us

There are two elements which underlie the disaster that faces Pakistan today. The first is the duplicity of the Pakistan's army and ISI, well chronicled by the New York Times interview with a retired militant.

The second element continues to be the funding of schools in Pakistan by Saudi Arabia- a story which has attained less traction but which is a far more potent long term threat and which the US and India ignore at its own peril. According to the best statistics there are at least 28,000 madrassas in Pakistand today which turn out ill educated but motivated Jihadis a year. This is the canon fodder being tended and grown by the Pakistan establishment.

Christopher Hitchens rips the shame of the Pakistan posturing in his latest broadside in Vanity Fair. The facts about the cannon fodder being assiduously developed by the country are less well known but in my view far more dangerous.

"Madrassa is an Islamic school that teaches Islam and Qoraan studies only. The students of the Madrrassas are in the ages of 8 up to the late 20s’, they live in dorms attached to the Madrassas and study in age groups of 20 up to 40 students under an Islamic teacher which in places likePakistan or Afghanistan are titled ‘Maulana’ – our teacher.

In Pakistan there are about 28,000 Madrassas with the total number of about 4 millions students. Most of the Madrassas in Pakistan are not preaching radical interpretations of Islam but still there are few thousands Madrassas that are teaching the radical doctrine of Wahhabismand, in many cases, are funded by Saudi Arabia.

The Madrassas all over the Islamic World and especially in Pakistan were the breading ground and recruiting centers for all kinds of Islamic militant organizations, primarily Al Qaeda. The Maulanas detect the most devoted and talented students for the recruiters of the Global Jihad. For two decades many thousands were recruited, under the close supervision of the Pakistani notorious intelligence service – ISI to fight against India for the divided Kashmir cause. Despite The 9/11 and the War on Terror the Madrassas recruiting system is still functioning almost undisturbed and is still the main source for young devoted Muslims recruits. It is also most likely that ISI is still involved in the recruiting system for his own needs.

There five major governing bodies of Pakistani Madrassas and their corresponding schools of thought are: Tanzim-ul-Madaras (Barelwi), Wafaq-ul-Madaras (Deobandi), Wafaq-ul-Madaras (Shia), Wafaq-ul-Madaras (Ahle Hadith) and Rabita-ul-Madaris (Jamaat-e-Islami)

The madaris rose as colleges of learning in the Islamic world in the 11th century, though there were institutions of learning earlier. They catered not only to the religious establishment, though that was the dominant influence over them, but also the secular one. To the latter they supplied physicians, administrative officials, judges and teachers.

In 1947 there were only 189 madrassas in Pakistan. In 2002 the country had 10,000-13,000 unregistered madrassas with an estimated 1.7 to 1.9 million students. A 2008 estimate puts this figure at "over 40,000". Most madrassas in Pakistan cater to the dominant Sunni sect, with an estimated 14-20% madrassas serving the minority Shia population." And there has been major effort to curb the growth of these jihadi factories.

The sad fact is that the US has been complicit in this shameful deceit and continues to fund the army and ISI and indirectly the madrassas. The latest development of holding up $ 900 million of payments to the Pakistan army is a modest first step but it is time for India to develop a strategy to curb the rot around us before it engulfes us all.