Pakistan: Madrassa face financial curbs

By Aamir Latif

KARACHI, Pakistan (AA) - Squeezed by pressure from international money-laundering watchdogs, Pakistan has imposed curbs on religious seminaries or madrassa which provide free education to millions of students, but are accused by some as being breeding grounds for terrorism.

Madrassa officials accuse the government of not renewing their registration, making it difficult for them to collect funds.

They face difficulty in opening new bank accounts and accuse security agencies of pursuing a “consistent” policy of harassing the students.

“Thousands of applications have been pending for the last six to seven years for renewal across the country but the authorities without citing any cogent reason, are not entertaining them,” said Talha Rahmani, spokesman of Wifaq-ul-Madaris Pakistan, the country's largest madrassa board.

In addition, he said, banks have refused to open new accounts for unregistered madrassa making the acquisition of funds difficult for them.

Currently, there are over 35,000 madrassas in Pakistan, 90 percent of which are registered, Rahmani said.

- Source of income

Banks say declaring a source of income is a precondition for opening a new account.

Abid Qamar, a spokesman of the central State Bank of Pakistan, said: “We are refusing bank accounts to unregistered madrassas. There is no ban on opening of accounts for registered madrassas.”

“Those applying for opening a bank account must clarify two things. First who they are and second what are their sources of income?" he said, adding that the rule applied to all charities.

Last June, Pakistan was placed on the grey list of Financial Action Task Force (FATF), an international terrorism financing watchdog, forcing the government to take critical measures.

They include proscribing some religious groups as terrorists.

The word madrassa means center of learning and religious education in Arabic.

Madrassa provide free religious education, boarding and lodging and are essentially schools for the poor. A madrassa student learns how to read, memorize and recite the Quran properly. Some get advanced theological education and become religious scholars.

Some 4 million students are currently enrolled in madrassa, according to official data.

- 'Jihad factories'

Western media often portray madrassa as "Jihad factories" -- a reference to participation of students in the Afghan war against the former Soviet Union in the '80s and then the Taliban war against the U.S.

A number of post 9/11 documentaries have popularized the view that Saudi-financed madrassa serving the poorest strata of Pakistani society, trafficked in an extreme form of Islam that produced suicide bombers and hijackers.

However, for many, madrassa -- once vehemently supported financially and morally by the U.S. -- serve as a parallel stream of education for the poor in a country where more than 22 million children remain out of school.

According to Senator Mushahid Hussain Syed, in the 1980s, some $4 billion had been donated by Washington and Riyadh for setting up madrassa in Pakistan.

Jabbar Khan, an Islamabad-based political analyst, says the government has found itself in a tough spot as it cannot rule out the influence and importance of madrassa.

"Pakistan and the West misused madrassa students in two wars in Afghanistan. This policy backfired. Now through these curbs the government wants to streamline and tighten its grip," he told Anadolu Agency,

Hanif Jalindhari, secretary general of the Ittehad Tanzimat-e-Madaris Deeniahi Pakistan, a joint body that represents all the five madrassa boards, said Prime Minister Imran Khan had assured that problems relating to madrassa education would be solved.

"We completely understand the national and international obligations. We are fully ready to cooperate with the government but it should also cooperate with us. Together, we can maintain financial transparency, which the country and the world require,” he added.