OPINION

Questioning the Madrasas

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By: Irshad Aziz

The people in all the regions of the world are in desperate need of peace and prosperity. To achieve this, the educated people in every society or community work in coordination and create some institutes from where they educate their children. Every society wants the children (who are its future generation) to live in peace. Nobody would like to see their children being subjected to brutalities, poverty, illiteracy, hunger or any other difficulty. For this the conscious people join hands to establish some educational institutes where their children can get the moral education. There is no doubt that government in every country and region is always busy in setting up some educational institutes of excellence. Govt. of every region tries its best to teach the students through best educational methods.

Every government keeps in view its national demands and accordingly forms the educational policies. The recent educational policy framed by the Indian government is one such example. However, it has been seen that almost all the countries throughout the world frame their educational policies in accordance to job opportunities. Hence, modern educational policies are always based on materialistic mindset. It is a well-established fact that world has progressed technologically but retrogressed morally. So, there is always a need to impart moral education among the children so that they can become good human beings prior to becoming a good scientist, doctor, engineer, philosopher etc.

Like India. Kashmir has also setup some madrasas (Islamic seminaries) for doing this job. The madrasas in Kashmir are busy in imparting the moral education from hundreds of years. The result is evident that despite being the hotspot for tourists, Kashmir has witnessed zero crime cases against tourists. The sympathetic nature of Kashmiri’s is an evident example and a sufficient proof that we belong to a morally sound society. Who is not witness to our sympathetic nature, when during 2014 floods our local youth risked their lives to save foreign tourists from flood hit areas? Who is not witness to our humanistic approach we have shown towards non-muslims (who work here) during the turmoil? There are innumerable good traits Kashmiri’s have inherited from Islamic teachings via madrasas or Islamic scholars and exhibited them during worst conditions.

Recently an IPS officer wrote an article in a national newspaper and described the madrasas and mosques in Kashmir as “ecosystem that sustains the militancy”. He advocated full integration of Kashmir with India by writing, “to do so requires dismantling the ecosystem that sustained this militancy for three decades. The most critical element in this ecosystem is the mosque-madrasa network that has radicalised generations of Kashmiri youth and given a jihadi character to the separatist movement. Many of these mosques host hard-line preachers from UP and Bihar, who have spread a strand of jihadi Islam that was not a part of the cultural fabric of the valley. Perhaps the government could consider taking over these madrasas and converting them into KendriyaVidyalayas. This would hit the jihadi virus at its very source, improve access to education in the valley and provide jobs”.

When one analyses his words deeply, we can reach to only one conclusion that how the mindset of author is preoccupied and how he tries to spread hate in the name of unification. A recent study by Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of Kashmir in 2018 negates all the false claims of this IPS officer. Pertinently, this report of CID was published by the same newspaper which recently published the article of this IPS officer. The report of CID says that 74% of the militants in Kashmir have never visited Darasgah or any Madrasa for any formal education. The same report says that 56% of the militants have either studied in government schools, 34% in both government and private schools, 6% had studied in private schools. Now, can someone tell this man, do we need to close schools, colleges and universities too in Kashmir for majority of militants have studied in these institutions?

The author has claimed that these madrasas and mosques host some hard-line preachers from UP and Bihar. Why cannot government of India stop them, if it is so? How can the government of India allow them to come and visit Kashmir to spread hatred? Or is it that government doesn’t know about this? The government must question the author about his false claims. Every non responsible person must not be allowed to comment on the volatile situation of Kashmir. They must not be allowed to sabotage the peace in the valley. These types of comments expose their inefficiency in accessing the real cause of militancy as police officers. Let the peace prevail. Let the people heal from Corona and let the people get up from heavy financial losses.

– The writer can be reached at [email protected]

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