Pakistan’s Army Chief of Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa has said that some religious madrassas in Pakistan teach extremism to students and called for the revision of the curricula and activities of these madrassas. 

This is the first time that a high-ranking officer of Pakistan military has criticizes activities of madrassas. Bajwa says the things that are taught in these madrassas distance the students from today’s education and moves Pakistan backward. 

The Afghan Chief Executive’s Office said on Saturday that religious madrassas in Pakistan have been promoting insurgency in the region for many years. 

“Pakistani madrassas have been used for promoting insurgency for so many years. The war that is ongoing in Afghanistan is fueled by fighters that come from Pakistani madrassas. If Pakistan takes practical actions to review these madrassas, it is good and we also expect that work should be done to prevent Pakistani madrassas from being centers for strengthening insurgency and extremism,” the Chief Executive Officer’s deputy spokesman, Jawed Faisal said. 

Currently, over 200 000 madrassas have been registered in Pakistan and hundreds of others are not registered. Over 2.5 million students are learning in these madrassas. 

“Arab countries’ intelligence and Pakistan intelligence have ISI mullahs such as Sami-Ul-Haq and Faiz-ul-Rahman. To create instability in Afghanistan and because of Pakistan’s deep strategic (goals) in Afghanistan, they want to create a force out of politics under the religious structure. That led to the establishment of madrassas to train mullahs,” former deputy minister to interior ministry Mirza Mohammad Yarmand said.  

“It does not need a review. Pakistan should immediately take actions to eliminate the centers of insurgency training which are a threat to the world,” MP Fatima Aziz said. 

Experts say that Pakistan’s history is bound with the Islamic extremism and that it is difficult to believe that Pakistan would close these madrassas.