Pakistan is in an unambiguous state of war with violent extremist groups since the most chilling attack on the Army Public School in Peshawar on December 16, 2014. Yet the PML-N government seems to be at pains to pacify the religious right which is furious at Information Minister Senator Pervaiz Rasheed’s recent description of the seminaries in the country as “centres of ignorance and militancy”.

Government spokesmen’s attempts to clarify the remark have failed to quieten the uproar from the madressahs, particularly those run by the Deobandi school of thought. Apparently the clergy wants to send the message that nobody should dare point a finger at them in future.

Read: ‘Minister’s defamers’ escape after assaulting police party

They continue to rail at the soft-spoken minister for what they call his “anti-religious education” stance. Their attacks took a menacing form when some madressah students allegedly hung banners outside the parliament building calling for Senator Rashid’s ouster – and hanging.

This past week the matter landed in both the houses of parliament when JUI-F legislators tabled adjournment motions against the minister. In the Senate, upper house of the parliament, the information minister himself stood by his remark but by way of explanation, while in the National Assembly, senior minister Khawaja Mohammad Asif spoke for his beleaguered colleague.

Mr Rasheed said he only shed light on those madressahs involved directly in militancy when he addressed a national conference organised by the Pakistan Academy of Letters in Karachi on May 3. Defence Minister Asif was more specific in his response to the tirade. He told the National Assembly that 3 to 4 per cent of the some 30,000 seminaries spread across the country were responsible for bringing disrepute to the institution of madressahs by involving in “violent means”. Both the ministers tried to calm the frayed nerves of the religious lobby, notably of JUI-F lawmakers.

It was not the first time though that government leaders spoke about a violent streak in the madressah education system and their involvement in terrorist activities. If anything, the interior minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan had put the figure of culprit madressahs higher at 10 per cent of the total number of madressahs.

Also read: Religious groups protest information minister’s remarks

Some observers interpreted the lower percentage quoted by the defence minister as an attempt to mollify the enraged madressah managements the government wants to reform and regulate.

Senior government officials noted in background discussions that mainstreaming of the vast and diverse networks of madressahs was “the key part of the National Action Plan (NAP) against terrorism” but was proving a tough challenge for the government. The strong reaction to the information minister’s remarks from the wider religious lobby only shows how daunting is the task.

Under the NAP, the government is supposed to bring the tens of thousands of seminaries run by different sects at par with government schools. So far the target remains a shimmering mirage.

Even if one takes the word of the defence minister, the troubled 3 or 4 per cent of around 30,000 seminaries make a formidable number to tackle for the government. Until now the government has not made known if it has acted against any seminary for its criminal activities. On the contrary there has been suspicion that it hid such culprits.

Also read: Pervaiz Rasheed madrassa faux pas: Khawaja Asif attempts damage control

According to a senior government official involved in the implementation of the NAP everybody knows where the problem lies. “But the sad part of the story is that nobody wants to take the risk of taking them [religious right] head on. Yes, we monitor them. But unless they are nabbed and brought to book, nothing is going to change,” he said.

Even before the attack on Army Public School brought the NAP, law enforcement agencies had enough data on the madressahs directly or indirectly involved in militancy and terrorism, but political expediency stayed the hands of the governments of the day from going after them. All they did was to announce a policy to bring seminaries under control but did not act beyond rhetoric.

“May be, in the coming years, a strong-willed government will take genuine measures because at the moment nothing is happening on ground,” the official said.

“Things aren’t as simple as they look from outside,” replied a lawmaker of the ruling PML-N when asked why the government is reluctant to take to task the seminaries it finds at fault. “A number of well-entrenched religious parties are deadly against government interfering in madressahs affairs.”

Then the sects running the seminaries form a formidable lot. Despite their mutual differences and hostilities, they are ever ready to rise up against the government and liberals on any issue, dubious or genuine, as happened in the case of information minister.

All this makes it difficult to take on the troublesome religious zealots, said the ruling party legislator, though agreeing that the problem has become perilous.

A report prepared by an international working group on Pakistan for the US-based Century Foundation, and released in Islamabad the other day, had this to say about the situation: “Public opinion has changed and the space to challenge widely-held orthodoxies about religion in Pakistan has almost completely evaporated. This process has been directed by the religious right wing, with active and sustained support from mainstream political groups and the endorsement of state policy.

“Few are willing to speak out against extremism and in favour of a diverse and pluralist society. Most worryingly, the future looks no brighter than the present on this front.”

A British Council report in 2013 surveying young people reported that 94 percent said the country was headed in the wrong direction.

Published in Dawn, May 22nd, 2015

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