Jaysh-e-Mohammed on Madrasas

In the latest edition of al-Qalam, the weekly online magazine of the Pakistani militant group Jaysh-e-Mohammed, columnist Naveed Masood Hashmi lashes out at Hillary Clinton for linking madrassas, or religious seminaries, to suicide bombings. In an article entitled “Hillary, Madaris and Hanging/Execution,” Hashmi asks: “… who is she [Hillary Clinton] to accuse Pakistani madrassas of sponsoring suicide attacks?” and wonders if the US ambassador to Pakistan, N. W. Peterson, will offer an apology to the Pakistani people for this immensely “provoking” statement made by their Secretary of State.

The author delves into a lengthy praise of madrassas, their popularity and social benefits, and goes on to emphasize that at no point during the long and glorious history of madrassas did they produce terrorists or encourage suicide strikes. Instead, he argues, it is the U.S. that is to blame for the ongoing suicide missions in Afghanistan and Pakistan:

“After 9/11 when U.S. forces invaded Afghanistan, they not only made the Muslims there victims of their viciousness, but also ensured that their slave, Pervez Musharraf, enact the same barbarity in Pakistan’s tribal areas […] So, it wasn’t madrassas that created suicide bombers, rather they were borne of American evil-doing and are thirsty for vengeance.”

Therefore, Hashmi advises, the solution is not to change Pakistan’s education sector with the help of American dollars or the propaganda being played out by Pakistani “liberals” or any schemes such “devilish minds” can concoct. Instead, the only fool-proof method of preventing suicide bombings is to alter US policy:

“If the Secretary of State stops accusing madrassas of propagating extremism and tells the Pentagon and White House to end their brutality against Muslims… then I can assure you, suicide bombing shall cease.”