January 2, 2006
Pakistanis Back Off Vow to Control Seminaries
by Salman Masood
The New York Times
As the incendiary training at some of Pakistan's seminaries drew renewed focus in the weeks after the July 7 bombings in London, President Pervez Musharraf promised to bring the schools into the mainstream and expel their foreign students by the end of the year.
But his tough pledge has fizzled.
Last week, the government backed away from its deadline and said it would not use force to deport the students. The schools then said they would resist any effort to round up the students, and on Sunday, a coalition representing the seminaries called the government's plan "inhuman, immoral and totally illegal," The Associated Press reported.
The schools, called madrasas, were once the Islamic equivalent of Sunday school. Supported by private donations, they now provide housing, meals and education free - a lure for poor families in particular. The rigid training at some schools, though, makes them ripe for recruiting by Islamist militant groups.
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