The PTI responds

This refers to the article, ‘ Mainstreaming the Taliban?’ (June 25) by Babar Sattar. The article clearly shows either an inherent ignorance or a deliberate refusal to concede to facts readily available on the KP government’s allocation of the budgetary grant to Maulana Samiul Haq’s seminary. Ignoring the usual tirade Sattar has against Imran Khan, which is more reflective of some deeply ingrained personal and rather irrational animosity towards Khan, it is unfortunate that Sattar failed to at least discover what the facts were in the context of this admittedly controversial grant, so blinded is he by his Khan obsession. To begin with, the PTI has always believed in dialogue to isolate hard-core terrorists from others. This is not a unique position as it was adopted in the IRA case as well as by the US and its allies in Afghanistan itself, with the US giving Qatar the green signal on the Afghan Taliban opening their office there. The peace talks on Afghanistan have also had the Taliban participation as a cornerstone. Coming to the Darul Uloom Haqqania, the PTI believes in mainstreaming madressah education into the public education sector so that the 22 lakh madressah children, for whom the state is unable to take directly into its care, are at least brought at par with those studying in the public sector education system – faulty and inadequate as that may be. The PTI has always maintained that isolation encourages radicalisation. While it is also true that de-radicalisation requires a holistic counter-narrative, a beginning can be made by mainstreaming madressahs into the public education system as the counter-narrative will also have to be rooted in these public schools as the foundation.

Madressah reform is also a cornerstone of the National Action Plan, which the PTI helped formulate. While the federal government and other provincial governments have not moved on this issue, the KP government has finally decided to move forward on this as the people in KP have been victims of radicalised terrorists. As the largest, oldest and most significant madressah in KP, Darul Uloom Haqqania was a logical starting point for the government to begin its madressah reform programme. This institution is registered with the HEC from where the students get their equivalence certificates. Interestingly, not only does this madressah have links to Muslim seats of learning like Al Azhar but it also sends its alumni to teach Islamiyat and Arabic in private and public educational institutions across the country including those run by the armed forces. Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto provided funds for the madressah’s main hall and successive governments, except ironically the MMA government, have all supported this institution. Foreign envoys have also visited it and sought its support on issues of extremism. The KP government’s grant is spread over a five-year period and will focus on upgrading the teaching to include Mathematics, Computer Sciences, English language and General Sciences. It will also help establish science labs, computer labs and additional classrooms. What has also been forgotten by the critics is that post-9/11 the US offered financial aid to madressahs for reform but that was rejected. Therefore, the fact that one of the most influential madressahs’ in KP has now chosen to accept government assistance and thereby scrutiny should be appreciated as a welcome first step towards madressah reform and deradicalisation. One should also recall that it was this madressah that turned the tide on the anti-polio drive by lending it its proactive support at a time when many ulema were railing against the anti-polio campaign. This helped the KP government in making this programme a success. So Mr Sattar would have been more credible if he had digested the facts on the ground first.

Naeemul Haque

Central Information Secretary, PTI