Former Pakistani PM: Madrassas Are Pakistan’s Ideological Military Camps

Former Pakistani prime minister Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain has vowed to defend the role of madrassas, saying that these Islamic seminaries are the ideological military camps/cantonments of Pakistan.

The Urdu-language newspaper Roznama Ausaf quoted Shujaat Hussain as saying: "There is no teaching of any type of extremism and terrorism in madrassas. None of the baseless allegations aimed at defaming the religious madrassas have to date proved to be true."

Chaudhary Shujaat Hussain is president of the Pakistan Muslim League (Q), that was ousted from power in the February 18 polls.

According to the newspaper's report, Shujaat Hussain opposed a proposal by new Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani to regulate madrassas in Pakistan. He added, "During our time in power, we provided total protection to madrassas, and now, being in the opposition, we will defend them at every level and in every way."

According to the report, he called madrassas in Pakistan the world’s biggest NGO. He added that there was no other such organization, institution, or network in the world that served over two million male and female students. He said foreign students enrolled in the madrassas of Pakistan were a cause of national pride and that any move by the government to ban them from enrolling in these seminaries would be opposed.

Source: Roznama Ausaf, Pakistan, March 31, 2008

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