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"We begin to win when we start fighting properly and I think we are now fighting properly," said Blair. (Reuters) |
LAHORE — British Prime Minister Tony Blair has decided to double aid to Pakistan to support "moderate" madrasahs against what he described as hardline religious schools, The Independent newspaper reported Sunday, November 19.
Blair, now on his third visit to Pakistan since 2001, announced a doubling in aid from £236m to £480m (US$909 million) over the next three years.
The bulk of the cash will be used in promoting President Pervez Musharraf's policy of "enlightened moderation" in madrassahs, accused by Britain of brainwashing youths into championing extremist ideologies.
Pakistan has bowed to West's pressures and cracked down hard on the religious seminaries in the wake of the 7/7 London terrorist attacks.
Musharraf had ordered foreign students in the country's madrassahs to leave the country by December 31.
The Alliance of Organizations of Religious Schools in the country has vowed to resist the decision but many foreign students have already left the country voluntarily.
A deadly air raid on a madrasahs earlier this month which claimed the lives of 80 people, including children as young as five, has inflamed the situation and placed the government in a tight corner.
Pakistani intelligence sources told IslamOnline.net that an intelligence tip-off from US officials to Pakistani counterparts, unsubstantiated by proof or satellite evidence, was behind the attack.
There are around 12,000 madrasahs in Pakistan, often offering free religious education and board for more than one million Pakistani children, especially in areas neglected by state education services.
"Soft Power"
Emerging from a meeting with Musharraf, Blair called for a change in Western efforts to tackle extremism, urging the use of "soft power" techniques like aid and economic development as much as military might, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).
He said the West and its allies were "in the midst of a difficult global struggle" against "Islamic extremism" and warned that the only way to win was to back moderate forces in countries including Afghanistan and Iraq.
Blair was asked whether the United States and its allies like Britain were winning the global fight.
"We begin to win when we start fighting properly and I think we are now fighting properly. But we've got to do more."
Both Blair and Musharraf expressed confidence in their partnership against extremism although they agreed they would need to work increasingly closely "for many years to come".
"This extremism that we are facing... has been a long time growing and it's going to take a long time to defeat it," Blair said, "but the sooner we start fighting it the sooner we will achieve victory."
Musharraf said in an interview released on September 21 that the US blackmailed his country by threatening to bomb it "back to the Stone Age" after the 9/11 attacks unless it supported the war on terror.
Shortly after 9/11, Pakistan abandoned its support for the ruling Taliban in Afghanistan and became a front-line ally in Washington's o-called war on terror.
The South Asian country has since deployed around 80,000 troops on the rugged border with Afghanistan to hunt pro-Taliban and Al-Qaeda elements.
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