Three Rs—and Revenge

Mohammad Siddique aimed to draw blood. In his hand he had a sharp-edged stone to throw at the police during a demonstration in support of Osama bin Laden in Peshawar last week. But in his mind he had another aim—to strap explosives to his body to kill Americans. "I am not afraid to die," said the slightly built 18-year-old student from a fundamentalist medressa, or Islamic school. "Our prophet said each Muslim is part of one body, so if anywhere in the world a Muslim is injured, we are hurt here too." And so Siddique went to the daily anti-U.S. demonstrations around Peshawar last week to vent his anger at the bombing of Afghanistan, dreaming of the day when he could become a martyr for Islam.

Siddique is a product of one of the estimated 30,000 medressas in Pakistan, which are run by fundamentalist Islamic groups and teach a million students an extreme and often militant version of their faith. Siddique, the son of a poor family from the northern town of Chitral, first went to a medressa at age 13 because it was free. He quickly learned the message of jihad, or holy war, interpreted as revenge for the ills suffered by Muslims around the world. It is an infectious message. Most of Afghanistan's Taliban leadership were educated in Pakistani medressas when they lived in the country as refugees from the Soviet occupation. The schools continue to propagate a radical strain of Islam that only seems likely to be strengthened by the current U.S. campaign against terrorism in Afghanistan.

MORE STORIES Kabul: Eking out an Existence Baghran: Into Taliban Country Taliban: Why the bad guys get away More Stories >>> PHOTO ESSAYS Burden of Sanctuary Afghanistan's Women A Country Divided More Photos >>> CNN.com Asia Latest news on the War on Terror IN THIS WEEK'S ISSUE Inside Tora Bora Jan. 14, 2002 Past Issues Person of the Year Dec. 31, 2001 ----------------- Inside Tora Bora Dec. 24, 2001 ----------------- The Manhunt Dec. 17, 2001 ----------------- Qala-i-Jangi Dec. 10, 2001 ----------------- Unveiled at Last Dec. 3, 2001 ----------------- Hunting bin Laden Nov. 26, 2001 ----------------- First Blood Nov. 19, 2001 ----------------- Al-Qaeda's Reach Nov. 12, 2001 ----------------- War On   Two Fronts Nov. 5, 2001 ----------------- The Fear Factor Oct. 29, 2001 ----------------- The War   on Terror Oct. 22, 2001 ----------------- Facing the Fury Oct. 15, 2001 ----------------- Preparing   for Battle Oct. 8, 2001 ----------------- Target: Bin Laden Oct. 1, 2001 ----------------- America United Sept. 24, 2001 ----------------- Day of Infamy Sept. 14, 2001   INTERACTIVE GRAPHICS The World of Al-Qaeda Ramping Up the Ground War Mission Into Afghanistan More Graphics Workplace Safety Afghan Targets Anthrax Pathogen A Ground War An Uneasy Ally Targets Hit Search & Destroy Firepower & Food Frozen Assets Safety Guide Middle East Leaders Agents of Death Afghanistan Military Buildup Terrorist Cells Our Weapons Paths of Destruction Twin Terrors

The medressas are male-only schools that teach a narrow curriculum consisting of the Koran, the sayings of the Prophet Muhammad and Islamic Shari'a law. The Pakistani government is trying to bring the schools back into the mainstream education system by offering money and training to the teachers to give courses in English, computer science and economics, but with little success so far. The schools are privately funded by Muslim groups from inside and outside the country, and the government does not have much power over them. Siddique has little respect for President Pervez Musharraf's government, who has been saying it is in Pakistan's interest to assist the U.S. in finding bin Laden. "Our government is telling lies every day," Siddique says, insisting that "America is the global terrorist for attacking Muslims." He accepts unquestioningly the reports in some Pakistani newspapers that 4,000 Jews were forewarned of the attacks on the World Trade Center and did not turn up for work that day, proving that the Israeli intelligence service was behind the attacks. Some of his classmates are ready to go into Afghanistan to fight against the U.S. "We have no weapons, but we can take a bomb strapped to our bodies."

Siddique's medressa is run by the Jamiat Ulema Islam, Pakistan's main fundamentalist party. The 600-student school is a dusty collection of buildings and a mosque surrounded by a small garden. Siddique shares a room with five others, sleeping atop a thin mattress on the stone floor. He rises at 4:30 for the first prayers of the day, and then spends long hours in a badly lit classroom memorizing the Koran. There is no TV or radio, the students are not permitted to watch films, and the only women Siddique ever sees are his mother and two sisters on the annual holiday he gets during the holy month of Ramadan.

Like many fellow students, Siddique is a member of the Sipah e Sahaba Pakistan (SSP), an extreme anti-Shi'ite organization that has been responsible for a series of sectarian killings in Pakistan, and many of whose members have trained in camps inside Afghanistan. Even the well-armed police are nervous when an SSP contingent turns up at demonstrations with their green, red and black flags. "We are ready to kill ourselves, why should we fear the guns of the police?" asks Siddique. "They are scared of us."

Siddique did not throw that stone at the police last Tuesday. And despite his bravado, the soft-spoken youth didn't seem quite ready to turn himself into a human bomb or fight with the Taliban—at least not yet. But he has five more years to go at the medressa, and with anti-Western feeling on the increase among fundamentalist Muslims, Siddique will hear only what his teachers want him to hear. The calling of jihad will echo ever stronger.

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