Mullah Sought After Boys Flee School In Chains

The Telegraph (UK) ^ | 2-5-2006 | Massoud Ansari

[blam]

Mullah sought after boys flee school in chains

By Massoud Ansari in Karachi
(Filed: 05/02/2006)

Pakistani police have issued an arrest warrant for a mullah at one of the country's Islamic schools after two young pupils claimed to have been beaten up and kept in chains for failing to memorise Koranic scripture.

Mohammad Ammar, eight, and Ahsan Mawia, 10, were found crawling through the streets in shackles in the dead of night after fleeing in terror from a strict school in Karachi. The pair were in a "hysterical state" and showed "visible sign of torture", according to police who examined them.

Ordeal: The two boys are recovering after their escape Their ordeal has reignited concern over the lack of controls on Pakistan's estimated 20,000 Islamic schools, or madrassas, which already face accusations of sponsoring Islamic militancy.

Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf pledged to bring them under closer supervision last year after suspicions that two of the London July 7 bombers, Shehzad Tanweer and Mohammed Sidique Khan, had used madrassas as rendezvous points with al-Qaeda operatives.

The case of the two young boys has attracted considerable publicity in Pakistan, and has led to madrassas facing scrutiny over the methods of their teaching in addition to its content. Police said the boys, who had been sent for schooling by their impoverished parents, had previously tried to escape. The pair told detectives that during their eight months at the school they were beaten almost daily and given very little food to eat.

"We were slapped and beaten with wooden sticks almost every day because they thought we were not improving and we were unable to memorise the long verses," the boys said in a statement.

On their first escape attempt, fellow pupils spotted them and brought them back to school, after which they were severely beaten and chained up to prevent them running off again. They finally broke free after jumping from the madrassa roof at night.

"They kept crawling all the night in chains in the streets, and were finally spotted by a local who brought them to the police station," a police official said. "One was bleeding profusely, while both of them had bruises and visible sign of torture."

The mullah running the school, who has since disappeared, faces a charge of illegal confinement and up to 18 months in jail.

Staff at the school, which has about 150 male pupils, are said to have claimed that only unruly pupils were disciplined, although the two boys say such punishments were widespread.

[eeriegeno]

Just keep telling yourself..."It's a religion of peace, it's a religion of peace, it's a religion of peace..."

It's a religion of peace, It's a religion of peace, It's a religion of peace, It's a religion of peace, It's a religion of peace......

Nope it ain't working....Sorry

[Lurker]

You must not be watching much tv there Doc. Christians are forever hijacking planes and flying them into buildings, kidnapping reporters and sawing off their heads, stoning women to death for being raped, strapping bombs to themselves and blowing Jewish day care centers...It's been on all the TV channels.

L

[DocRock]

"It's been on all the TV channels."

You are so right. I will contact my cable provider right away and request my subscription to the Christian Jihadist History Chanel. Thanks for the advice...*snicker*

[Chgogal]

Thanks for reminding us. It truly is appreciated. But what are they doing to stop the spread of madrasses and the indoctrination of the children?

[Lurker]

There you go now.

Just sit back, beat your wife with a rod no bigger than your thumb, give your prepubescent daughter a nice home clitorectomy, strap a suicide belt to your son and you'll feel right as rain in the morning.

L

[Mr. Jeeves]

Christians don't exactly have clean hands either, damnit....

Of course they do - they are way ahead. The Magdalene Laundries have been shut down for, what, eight or nine years now. ;)

[SauronOfMordor]

Kids are sent to madrassas by impoverished parents because they can't feed the kids, and madrassas furnish room and board. How do they do that? Because wealthy Muslims (Saudis) finance the schools.

The purpose of madrassas are to train up fully-indoctrinated shock troops of the global jihaad.

Shut down the money men, and the madrassas go broke, and the radical imams have to actually make a living doing something useful ("Would you like fries with your barbeque pork sandwich?")

[silentreignofheroes]

For people like these dear Iraqi friends of mine, it Christians don't exactly have clean hands either, damnit....

Look like good friends.Christains have never been out to dictate,just save..Don't paint our hands dirty because they are not...read real History.

[Steveone]

I am shocked I tell you shocked !! R-I-P Again !!

[sheik yerbouty]

It sounds like jihadist grabassticism..

[illinoissmith]

Anyone who thinks the Islamofascists can be lived with is deluding himself. The more I learn, the more I think it's a case of them or us.

You're right about Islamofascists, but as for the many of the people in their nations, there is hope for cultural conversion.

Those of the people who lived through what these two boys lived through, and kept some sanity and are currently keeping quiet for fear of their necks - have hope for them.

Think of the people in Iraq who give tips to US service men about where terrorists hid roadside bombs. Think of the parents of Baby Noor, who will watch her grow up knowing that her chance at a childhood was thanks to some good US soldiers. Think of the Jordan newspaper editor who ran the comics, said in an editorial that they were no big deal (and then got fired for his sanity).

Not all the people in Muslim countries are Islamofascists threatening violence; probably many are people who manage to maintain some touch with their inner moral compass despite their religious text, and are pretty freaked out by their insane neighbors, but are keeping silent for fear.

The Bush administration is doing what is right by these folks, and what is right for our defense, at once, and I think we need to stick by this two-pronged approach.

[RouxStir]

"You cannot make a blanket statement like that without showing your ignorance."

Ignorance is bliss. And you are a blissful apologist. A rattlesnake that hasn't bitten you yet is still a rattlesnake and still poisonous, none the less.

[Steveone]

That is not fair at all Christians follow the teachings of a benevolent God! Not a deranged one!I was never taught in Church to kill people who did not like my religion!

[stm]

Explain the crusades.

[illinoissmith]

Like I said, when I see your pals marching in the streets denouncing the psychopaths who seem to be running the "All Islam All The Time" channel.

So what would you have happen? Bomb everyone flat because the moderates aren't not out in the streets taking on better-armed, frenzied, violent, Saudi-funded maniacs?

I think Bush's approach defends us while not being unnecessarily brutal to others. We'll win because we're stronger and better and much, much more sane. And we don't need to bomb whole regions flat to do it.

[stm]

Not bitten by the snake huh? Ignorant huh? The only reason I am even able to reply to this post of yours is because back in September of 2003 my front plate stopped the AK-47 bullet headed straight for my heart, the impact of which broke three of my ribs. When we killed that "insurgent" MF we found he was carrying a Syrian passport.

So tell my again how I have not been bitten by the rattlesnake?

[Lurker]

Not all of them, but I would start with Damascus and Tehran. Then I would make it perfectly clear to the Saudis that the next act of terror sponsored by their spawn Al Queda will get a W-88 dialed up to about 25 kilotons detonated right over Mecca.

If we kill enough of them, they'll stop fighting.

L

[Lurker]

So why isn't the US Government responding to this rather obvous State Sponsored Act Of War? Why aren't a couple of armored divisions rolling on Damascus?

And just for the record, I pulled more than one dead Marine out of the rubble of the barracks in Beirut so don't go telling my I haven't paid my dues.

I've been 'bitten by the snake', too. I'm just not willing to have a second go around with 'em.

Once again, thanks for your service. And I hope you buried the bastard who shot you wrapped in a pigskin face down with his feet towards Mecca.

L

[McGavin999]

Thank you for your service, and thank you for defending your friends. There are a lot off Freepers who don't keep up with the Iraqi threads or they would know that Iraqis ARE out in the streets protesting against these thugs. They'd also know that the Grand Ayatollah Sistani has told the Iraqi Shiia that although the insult was great, it was because of terrorist thugs that the cartoons were drawn and westerners have this impression of Islam.

[illinoissmith]

OK, that might very well work to keep us defended and to get them to stop fighting and start building sane countries. You know more about this than I do.

My main concern is that I don't want my country to kill people, especially moderate people who could possibly live decently sane lives in a better political system, cheaply (not that anyone here really suggested that we should; I'm probably being oversensitive). Only in defense, and to prevent larger long-term death tolls, and to kill the perverse governments and systems that threaten us and their own people.

Your answer fits into this general outlook, as does Bush's answer. I don't know enough to judge which is technically better.