The inaugural address of a national youth convention is usually an opportunity for extolling the virtues of idealism and patriotism. It is symptomatic of the unenviable position Pakistan finds itself in after the London terror attacks that President Pervez Musharraf used the speech on July 18 to appeal to the youth to "launch a jehad against religious extremists".

The address came in the wake of the increasing evidence of links between the London bombers and extremists in Pakistan. It also reflected the reported tone and tenor of another closed-door address the week before in Islamabad. At the meeting, the first of its kind, Musharraf reportedly asked some 200 police officers to crack down on militant outfits, especially those that were banned but continued to function under changed names. They were told to seal their offices, arrest their activists and confiscate their "hate literature". A countrywide operation against militant groups followed, in which hundreds of activists were arrested and their publications shut down.

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MIND CONTROL: Studying the Quran at a madarsa in Lahore

The panic in official circles owes primarily to the battering Pakistan's image has received after confirmations that three of the London attackers of Pakistani descent had visited the country in the recent past. This has brought the focus on terror networks in Pakistan, in particular the role of madarsas in cultivating militants. Critics point out that more than the military training by some madarsas, it is the mindset fostered by the narrow-minded, informal educational system that breeds extremism. The spotlight on madarsas has also raised questions on the Government's efforts to reform their curricula.

A majority of over 11,000 informal madarsas in Pakistan cater to the poorer segment and offer education in the Quran, Hadith (sayings of the Prophet) and Arabic, the so-called Dars-e-Nizamia curriculum. Some have introduced computer literacy, but by and large maths, history, geography and English are not taught. Run by factional religious groups controlling mosques, they are accused of promoting sectarian thought. An example is the Darul Quran, a seminary and mosque in Faisalabad that claims to have 4,200 students from Pakistan as well as from Sudan, Philippines, Afghanistan and Central Asian states. It is run by followers of the hardline Deobandi school of thought, which is the guiding ideology of political parties like the Jamiat-e-Ulema-e-Islam, and of most of the madarsas that produced the Taliban. At the mosque's gates, a guard openly displays badges that mark him as a sympathiser of the Sipahe Sahaba, a banned Sunni militant outfit accused of attacks on Shia mosques and intellectuals. The only courses taught here are Quranic studies and there is no monitoring of how the scripture is interpreted.

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MIRED: Musharraf is again under pressure to control the madarsas

The Government faces a twofold problem in reining in the madarsas. Meaning "school" in Arabic, madarsas impart religious education and hence are a sensitive political and religious issue. Many children attend classes here in addition to secular government schools. On the other hand, for the over 10 lakh poor children who attend madarsas as full-time students, this is the only free education they receive. In a society with an abysmal education system, closing down the madarsas is not an option. The Government can only try to make the administration more accountable to authority and exert more control over what is taught.

When Musharraf announced in 2003 that the Government would take steps to register all madarsas and initiate curricula reform, it was opposed by madarsa boards that are used to operating without governmental interference and to raising their funds from private sources, including countries like Saudi Arabia and Iran. But at a meeting in September 2004 with the heads of five main madarsa boards-who came together under the Ittehad-e-Tanzeemat-e-Madaris-e-Deenia (ITMD)-Musharraf persuaded them to register with the government and to introduce "secular" subjects. This was considered important to break the cycle of ignorance, poverty and unemployment that pushes students to extremism. In turn, the Government accepted that the madarsas' degrees would be made equivalent to those of the formal educational system and that they would come under the control of the Ministry of Religious Affairs rather than the Ministry of Education.

Anumber of events since then, especially the formation of a Madarsa Reform Board under the Ministry of Education, have soured ITMD-Government ties, with the ITMD boycotting meetings with the Government and claiming that "western-funded NGO agents with western agendas" are influencing the Ministry of Education. As for the curricula, the ITMD denies promoting jehad but vows it will not compromise on Islamic precepts. "Jehad," says Qari Hanif Jullundhari, the Multan-based general secretary of the Wafaqul Madaris, "it is a central tenet of Islam and we will never shy away from teaching it". The Wafaqul Madaris is the largest and most influential of the five madarsa boards and follows the Deobandi school of thought.

The issue is serious enough to have been debated three times at the National Security Council (NSC) and to have prompted NSC Secretary Tariq Aziz to mediate a meeting between Jullundhari and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz to persuade the ITMD to end the boycott. Sources say a breakthrough may be in the offing but will require the Government to accept the boards' demands.

Reforms, however, will bear fruit only in the long term-if over time the curricula changes disincline the students from joining militant groups. In the short term, the Government faces the problem of policing a largely informal network that is fiercely protective of its independence. To curb militancy, the Government also needs to end duplicity on outfits like the Lashkar-e-Toiba. It is impossible, Musharraf must realise, to rein in a few militant bodies while giving others a free hand.

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