Muridke madrassa is what every youth in Pakistan aspire to join than regular schools or boarding. It is situated right outside of Lahore and is Pakistan’s second-largest city.
Youth in the region have lost hope in their future, they are in utter despair.
Muhammed Bakhtiar, a seventeen year old youth said,
We were told to fight against Israel, America and non-Muslims. We are so unhappy with our lives here. We have nothing.
Hence, these boys prefer to go in for suicide bombers thinking that they would get a ‘better life’ in ‘life after death’.
Muridke madrassa
This so called religious school or madrassa is run by the Jama’at-ud-Da’awah, the charity linked to the outlawed terrorist organization, Lashkar e Taiba. And Lashkar e Taiba has links to al-Qaida.
The premises of this madrassa resembles very much to an exclusive boys boarding school, the only thing which this school has is the bearded armed men that guard the compound. The complex offers various types of sports activities like cricket, swimming, horse riding etc.
In addition to religious instruction, the school offers computer sciences, engineering and pre-med classes for students ranging in age from six to 17 but above all, it teaches jihad.
Recruited at local high school
Ahmad, a seventeen old lad revealed that he along with his friend was recruited at their high school in Buner. But then the recruiter offered to take the boys to Muridke for two weeks of training and then to Peshawar where they would be introduced to people and make contacts.
Such people have instilled in the minds of young men that in order to become great, they would have to fight against the non believers of Islam. The boys themselves revealed that the option was laid before them to become a freedom fighter or a suicide bomber.
Parents outraged
When the parents got to know about the week’s gap which the boys had given in Buner, they felt very distressed. Some how, they acquired their contact in Muridke and claimed that the boarding school in Buner had brainwashed their sons.
However, the principal, Abdur Rahman, denied this, saying he went to the local police and demanded they go after the man who recruited the boys at his school.
He said,
We don’t support this, suicide attacks are murder, this is against Islam. Those boys went to Muridke by themselves, they should have been here taking their exams, and I no longer want them back in my school.
Main thing
Now, no one knows how far the statement made by the principal is correct. But one thing is for sure, the boys are not hopeful towards their future. They just harp one thing, there is nothing for us here. Nothing.
Perpetrators of this ‘heinous crime’ called jihad are making youth an easy target by playing with the religious ideology.
Vacuum has occupied the life of these youth. The world leadership must start looking at how to fill this void, give hope, with core solutions that would lead to redemption in such depressed lives.
