Author: Farhan Reza
Publication: Daily Times
Date: February 17, 2003
URL: http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_17-2-2003_pg1_9
Seminaries in Karachi received an
overwhelming response in a two month-admissions campaign that ended last
week, with madrassas belonging to various schools of thought and sects
saying they had registered 16,000 during this period.
The response was so enthusiastic
that a number of requests for admission had to be turned down for lack
of capacity, according to officials in the institutions.
By far the largest share of admissions
went to the countrywide Deobandi chain of religious schools, Darul Uloom
Jamia Banoria, which claims to have registered more than 9,000 students
in Karachi.
"This year's response was better
then last year's. We had to turn down some requests for admission because
all the vacancies had been filled," said Qari Mohammad Iqbal, the man in
charge of Jamia Banoria, which has 19 branches in Pakistan. Admissions
in the religious schools start in the month of Shawwal, which starts with
Eidul Fitr, and continue for roughly two moths.
"This year we received requests
from more than 10,000 students," he said.
Mr Iqbal admitted that "propaganda"
against the seminaries had made some impact during the period of enrolments
last year, but said things had "returned to normal this year". Although
he was reluctant to give the numbers of foreign students - he avoided being
exact on all numbers - he said 10 to 15 percent of students in Karachi
were foreigners, including Afghans.
Schools belonging to the Barelvi
tradition also reported an increase in admissions.
"The leading seminaries altogether
offered admissions to nearly 4,000 students this year, and had to turn
down many requests because of a shortage of seats," said Shah Turabul Haq,
head of Darul Uloom Amjadia of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Pakistan. "I have the
capacity of 600 children, and this year I had to send more than 100 students
to other institutions," he said. There are 40 to 45 seminaries and nine
major Barelvi institutes in Karachi, he added.
There are more than 36 Shia seminaries
in Karachi, which are expected to get nearly 3,000 students in 2003, said
Allama Abbas Kumaili, a Shia religious scholar.
Mr Haq and Mr Kumali maintained
that their seminaries had never been politicised and had therefore suffered
no impact of the current political- religious international trends.
The seminaries, particularly Deobandi
ones, were targeted in the last year-and-a-half for their reported support
to Osama bin Laden. Jamia Banoria became prominent in Karachi after 1996
when the Taliban movement intensified in Afghanistan and a large number
of its students went to join them.
Officials of the Bonoria schools
have adopted a strict policy of saying nothing on record of the Taliban
and jihadi movements. But a former student, who called himself Jamal, exulted,
"We were the first who rallied in favour of Osama, because he is our hero."
An Islamic government "is the destiny of this country", he declared, adding
that what he called the Islamic political movement would gear up in Pakistan
in the near future.
The formation of a Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal
government in the NWFP, an administration practically run by the Jamiat-e-Ulema-e-Islam
(Fazl), has boosted seminaries students' morale, and the growing political
ambitions of these students have compelled law-enforcement agencies to
watch them more closely. There is a police mobile stationed at the entrance
of each seminary.
Seminary students and managements
look at every stranger with suspicion, fearing that he may be an informer.
"We have to be careful when we see an unfamiliar person around," said a
student. "We don't know how our words could be interpreted by someone,"
he added, explaining his own cautiousness in talking to this reporter.
The government has been trying to
persuade the seminaries to include Mathematics, Science and English in
their syllabi, but without success so far.
Mr Haq from Darul Uloom Amjdadia
ruled out the chances of the introduction of these subjects, insisting
that Dars-e-Nizami, a course designed centuries ago but considered equivalent
to master's degree courses, did not leave much time to students to study
other subjects.
Both Mr Haq and Mr Iqbal of Jamia
Banoria believe that propaganda against seminaries had ultimately failed
to have an impact on people because, according to them, these institutions
had established their roots among people through service.
