Reforming Pakistan’s madrasas

Pakistan’s military announces plans to bring the country’s madrasas under government control. Why should Pakistan regulate its madrasas?

Background

Madrasas are Islamic seminaries, known in Pakistan as Madaris-e-Deeniya. Most of Pakistan’s Madrasas teach Islamic subjects. These include Tafseer (interpretation of the Quran), Hadith (the sayings of Muhammad) and Fiqh (Islamic law), as well as certain non-Islamic subjects such as logic, philosophy and mathematics that aids the understanding of the Islamic components.

Estimates of the number of Pakistani madrasas range between 20,000 and 40,000. Some reports suggest that madrasas outnumber Pakistan’s public school system. According to Dawn, twenty-five million Pakistani children do not attend school. For many Pakistanis, madrasas are the only available form of education.

Pakistan’s madrasas are mostly funded by Saudi-based groups, teaching a combination of Deobandi and Wahhabi ideology. As a result, a hardline interpretation of Islam is taught to many Pakistanis. Adherents to this school of thought include Afghanistan’s Taliban and most of Pakistan’s terrorist groups. Madrasas are popular among Pakistan’s poorest families primarily because they feed and house their students. Critics of this system argue that its students are often ill-equipped for the modern world. Instead, madrasas serve as ideal recruitment platforms for militant groups.

Analysis

On multiple occasions Pakistani security forces have forcibly assaulted madrasa complexes, targeting Islamist elements. Recently, a senior official of Pakistan’s military public relations unit, Major General Asif Ghafoor, said, “The government and support institutions have decided to mainstream all these madrasas. Their curriculum will include contemporary subjects…under the Ministry of Education.”

The plan is to be implemented in three phases. In the first phase, a legislative bill would be prepared. In the second, the syllabus would be reviewed, teachers assigned and finances discussed. In the third phase, mainstreaming of the madrasas would take place. The announcement highlights risks perceived by Pakistan’s defence establishment regarding madrasas, underscoring the power of Pakistan’s military regarding internal decisions. However, this is not the first attempt at madrasa reformation.

In 2002, following pressure from the US and its allies, President Pervez Musharraf launched a drive to reform madrasas. The government pledged to reform curricula and register madrasas so that they may be regulated and monitored. However, the voluntary program faced resistance from mullahs and conservatives. A lack of political will to press the issue led to its faltering.

Following a Taliban attack on a school in Peshawar in 2014, the government outlined a National Action Plan to tackle militancy and extremism. The plan asked all madrasas to submit information regarding their funding, spending, students and staff. Madrasa leaders argued that the process amounted to official harassment, leading to the suspension of the data collection. Afraid of backlash from the powerful religious lobby, the government was reluctant to pursue the matter.

Prime Minister Imran Khan and his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party was the country’s opposition during the previous government. During this time, he gave voice to many of the country’s Islamist hardliners. In his earliest months as PM, Mr Khan took a stand against the country’s hardliners regarding Pakistan’s blasphemy laws. The incident involved a court case against a Christian woman accused of blasphemy. Initially convicted of the offence, the country’s highest court acquitted her on insufficient evidence. Significant Islamist backlash compelled PM Khan to sign an agreement that barred the accused from leaving the country. Although the Supreme Court dismissed the restriction, PM Khan recently stated that a “complication” had delayed her departure.

Pakistan’s newly-elected government has faced increased pressure from global powers to stabilise the country. PM Imran Khan has vowed significant improvements. Bringing Pakistan’s madrasas under government control is a part of these reforms. PM Imran Khan needs to demonstrate progress on reformations to portray Pakistan as a stable trade partner. Pakistan has recently requested a financial bailout of US$8 billion following a balance of payments crises. Securing a bailout package is dependent on the success of these reforms.

Counterpoint

Although it is difficult to estimate, some reports suggest that there are between 10,000-15,000 unregistered madrasas operating in Pakistan. Effectively regulating these madrasas is likely to be a challenge for Pakistan’s Ministry of Education.

Any curricula taught is likely to keep with Pakistan’s identity as an Islamic nation. Maj-Gen Ghafoor said, “An Islamic education will continue to be provided but there will be no hate speech.” However, the announcement failed to offer detailed explanations of how this would be accomplished.

Placing madrasas under government control will remove all avenues of external funding from these schools. Maj-Gen Ghafoor said that Pakistan intended to divert funds to education from the cost of anti-terrorism security operations, which have declined in recent years. However, this is unlikely to be adequate to account for the shortfall.

Assessment

Our assessment is that Pakistan’s renewed attempt to revamp its madrasas is bold and laudable, considering failed attempts in the past, PM Imran Khan’s electoral base and logistical difficulties in its regulation. The co-option and patronage of religious activism by the military, as well as the government, have brought Pakistan to a point where the menace of religious extremism threatens to erode the foundations of state and society. However, we feel that there will be less pressure this time from Saudi based Wahabi and Salafi groups to have their writ on the madrasas. The Saudis, albeit slowly, have started curbing the proliferation of extremist ideology, realising the danger to their own monarchy. We believe that Pakistan too is eager to show that it has severed links with militant groups that have carried out attacks against its neighbours. This is to improve global perceptions of Pakistan as it seeks a financial bailout from international agencies, including the IMF. We also believe that Pakistan is now under pressure from both US and more so its principal benefactor, China to regulate these madrasas. The Chinese are hardening their rhetoric on Islam with top officials, including President Xi Jinping, emphasising the need to guard against foreign infiltration through religion and to prevent the spread of ‘extremist ideology’ seeping into the country.

Image Courtesy:Sohailsameja [CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)]