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2009-03-25 India-Pakistan
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Jaish madrassa operates in Bahawalpur despite ban
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The compound bore no sign. Residents referred to it simply as the school for "jihadis," speaking in awe of the expensive horses stabled within its high walls - and the extremists who rode them bareback in the dusty fields around it.
In classrooms nearby, teachers drilled boys as young as eight in an uncompromising brand of Islam that called for holy war against enemies of the faith. Sitting cross-legged on the floor of the Darul Uloom Madina school, they recited verses from the holy Quran.
Both facilities are run by an Al Qaeda-linked terror network, Jaish-e-Muhammed, in the heart of Punjab. Their existence raises questions about the government's pledge to crack down on terror groups' accused of high-profile attacks in Pakistan and India.
Jihadis: There, would-be jihadis practice martial arts, archery and horse-riding skills and get religious instruction, according to a former member of Jaish-e-Muhammed, who spoke on condition of anonymity. "You can say Jaish is running its business as usual," said Amir Rana, from Pakistan's Institute for Peace Studies, which tracks militant groups. "The military wants to keep alive its strategic options in Kashmir. The trouble is you cannot restrict the militants to one area. You cannot keep control of them."
Recruit: A top police officer said the madrassas in the area were used to recruit teens and young men for jihad in the NWFP or in Afghanistan. He spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.
A guard wielding an automatic weapon stood at the gate of the Usman-o-Ali school and turned a visiting journalist team away. But the head teacher at nearby Darul uloom Madina allowed the group a tour and an interview.
Attaur Rehman said none of the students were allowed to be recruited for jihad while studying there, but added that he could not stop them joining up after they graduated. "Pakistani citizens, and especially Punjabis, are the Taliban trainers in the area for bomb-making," said Asadullah Sherzad, police chief in Afghanistan's insurgency-wracked Helmand province, adding there are around 100 Punjabis at any one time in that area of Afghanistan.
A police officer in Bahawalpur said Jaish members were not believed to be training with weapons in the town's schools and other facilities, adding that law enforcement agencies had infiltrated the group. He spoke on condition of anonymity because sections of the government and security agencies disagreed on the need to crack down on the group.
Jaish is believed to have been formed in 2000 by hard-line cleric Masood Azhar after he was freed from an Indian prison in exchange for passengers on a hijacked Indian Airlines flight that landed in southern Afghanistan the same year. Azhar was born in Bahawalpur, though the government says his current whereabouts are not known. A small stall outside the Usman-o-Ali school sells his speeches and writings. 
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Posted by Fred 2009-03-25 00:00||
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File under: Jaish-e-Mohammad
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Posted by Paul2 2009-03-25 11:45||
2009-03-25 11:45||
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