“University of Jihad”: Pakistan Gives Millions To Maintain Extremist Madrassa

Two of the closest allies to the United States have long been primary sources for terrorists: Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. Both maintain Islamic schools or madrassas that espouse extreme views of Islam that justify the killing of homosexuals, blasphemers and others. While both countries continually insist that they are not supporting such groups, terrorists have been traced back to both countries in terms of support and education. Indeed, Pakistan continues to jail a doctor who helped the United States find Bin Laden but still receives massive U.S. aid. Now, it has been disclosed that Pakistan’s Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government has allocated Rs 300 million to a madrassa known as the “University of Jihad” because of its infamous alumni of terrorists and extremists, including top Afghan Taliban leaders like the late Mullah Omar.

Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Minister Shah Farman declared “I am proudly announcing that Darul Uloom Haqqania Nowshera will get Rs 300 million to meet its annual expenditures.” He will have to forgive the rest of the world not rejoicing at the government maintaining an extremist school that produces graduates who believe that throwing acid in the faces of little girls and blowing up markets are acts that please God.

The madrassa in Akora Khattak also claims such dubious graduates as Haqqani Network founder Jalaluddin Haqqani, Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent leader Asim Umar and slain Afghan Taliban chief Mullah Akhtar Mansoor. The reunions must be rather precarious events.

Minister for religious affairs Habibur Rehman insisted “Darul Uloom Haqqania is one of the oldest and largest seminaries of Pakistan and it deserves financial assistance.” Yes it is one of the oldest and most extremist schools in the world. That is not a good thing. However, Rehman, belongs to Jamaat-i-Islami, a party established to make Pakistan an Islamic state, governed by Sharia law. It opposes secularism and basic civil liberties in its extreme political objectives.

As the Administration (as with prior administrations) seeks billions in aid and support for such countries, it would be useful to be able to distinguish them from countries that we deem “evil” and supporters of terrorism.