Pakistan 'weak' on religious schools

Madrasas are the only chance of education for poor

Pakistan's efforts at regulating religious schools or madrassas have been criticised by an international conflict prevention group as inadequate.

The non-government International Crisis Group says in a report that the military government has "acted weakly" in dealing with the madrassas.

Musharraf: under pressure to act

Pakistan has been under pressure to crackdown on the schools which are viewed as training grounds for Islamic militants.

Last month, the Pakistani Government ordered all religious schools in the country to register within the next six months, but the report says the measures do not go far enough .

Foreign governments, especially those from the Middle East, are known to be unhappy about their nationals, usually Islamic dissidents, attending madrassas in Pakistan.

Future concerns

The report says Pakistan's new draft law makes no provision for the enforcement of reforms.

The madrassas will simply be asked to comply which it said "gives some sense of the lack of commitment to reform'.

There is also concern about the future of about 1.5m graduates to be produced by these madrassas.

"Their constrained world view, lack of modern civic education, and poverty make them a destabilising society," according to the report.

They are also susceptible to "romantic notions of sectarian and international jihadis with a promise of instant salvation".

Nearly 10,000 madrassas are reported to be operating in Pakistan, but they have never faced any regulation.

Last month, the Pakistani Government introduced an ordinance making it mandatory for all madrassas to register with the government.

The government also ordered them not to accept any foreign aid or grant.

President Musharraf's reform measures have enraged hardliners.

Tough regulations

But the International Crisis Group said the military government's confrontation with its former religious allies is "at best a short-term response compelled by circumstances and foreign pressure".

A third of Pakistani children attend madrasas

The group called for a regulatory body that would implement tough new laws requiring the mandatory registration of madrassas.

It recommended that those affiliated with banned militant organisations be closed.

It also suggested that all funding of madrassas should be audited and published.

In many rural areas, the madrassas provide the only real chance of any education.

They attract the poor because they are free and provide children with board and lodgings.

Many of the Taleban, who lived in Pakistan as refugees, received their education in the schools, and Pakistan's own extremists have attended them.