Madrassas in Pak produced 'ruthless militants': CPP

Thousands of madrassas in Pakistan preaching Saudi brand of Islam produce "ruthless militants in hundreds", the Communist Party of Pakistan (CPP) has said.
In a message to the two-day South Asian Regional Seminar of Communist and Left parties held here, the Central Committee of the CPP said that long-term tactics were designed by the military in Pakistan to tear the social fabric of the society.
M A Baby, a member the Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), circulated a copy of the CPP's message at a press conference on the concluding day of the seminar today.
The CPP, founded in Calcutta in 1948, has a marginal presence in Pakistan.

Baby said CPP representatives could not attend the conference as they were denied visa by the Indian authorities.
The CPI(M) organised the seminar to mark the 100th anniversary of the October Revolution in Russia.

The CPP said that during periods of military rule in Pakistan, the party was banned and hundreds of its leaders activists were jailed. Many of them disappeared, it said.
Even under these circumstances, the CPP continued its struggle for the basic rights of the masses.
It said the Pakistani military, soon after imposing martial law in the country in 1980, established some 60,000 madrassas which started preaching the Saudi brand of Islam.

"To glamourise jihadi culture, special recruitments were made in universities, schools and colleges. Areas adjacent to the Afghan border were surrendered to jihadi outfits," it said.
"Textbooks were revised and fanatic sectarian articles were included in the curriculum. Democracy and secularism were synonyms for curse," it said.
The party alleged that the same pattern was being followed by the "establishment" in Pakistan even today.
"Madrassas are producing ruthless militants in hundreds. ...Students from public educational institutions are encouraged to join the ranks of militants," it said.