Pakistan Conflict Monitor

Govt Attempts to Rehabilitate "Would-Be Suicide Bombers"

Pakistan Attempts Rehabilitation of Would-Be Suicide Bombers, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 28 July 2010

EXCERPT: "As suicide bombings have become a common tactic of terrorist groups in Pakistan, the authorities are now trying to rehabilitate would-be attackers, RFE/RL's Radio Mashaal reports. A suicide bomber who killed eight people on July 26 outside the home of a provincial minister near Peshawar is representative of the suicide bomber demographic -- like the vast majority, he was a juvenile male. Mohammad Farooq Khan is a doctor at a rehabilitation center in the northern Swat district for would-be bombers. His facility is one of two in Pakistan where a total of some 175 young people are being 'treated.' Farooq Khan told Radio Mashaal that the parents of most of the patients at the center had sent their children to strict madrasahs or to Islamic fundamentalist organizations to be educated. The parents later realized that their children were being turned into extremists. Farooq Khan said many of the boys grew up without their fathers, who were usually working abroad or in other parts of Pakistan."

Read the full story.

Related articles:
In Afghanistan, no shortage of suicide bombers, NPR, 28 July 2010
What goes into the making of a suicide bomber, The Express Tribune, 20 July 2010

Related posts:
Beyond madrasas: Assessing the links between education and militancy in Pakistan, 23 June 2010
Poor health facilities exacerbate bomb tolls, 6 January 2010
Taliban brainwashing kids into killers: Military, 5 January 2010
Suicide bombers cause torment for Pakistani children, 17 November 2009
Lack of basic education fuels rise in Taliban, extremism, 9 November 2009

Weak Governance Aids Radicalization in Punjab: Experts

In Pakistan, Old Militants Create New Alliances, NPR, 12 July 2010

EXCERPT: "In Pakistan, far from the isolated mountains of the tribal belt where the Taliban first appeared, an extremist network has taken root in the country's heartland. [...] Khaled Ahmed is one of the foremost experts on Pakistan's militant groups. He says extremists have gained a foothold in southern Punjab because governance is weak and feudal landowners have run things. But the sway of landowners is being supplanted by increasingly influential Muslim clerics. But the sway of landowners is being supplanted by increasingly influential Muslim clerics. 'You have to work in tandem with the big person there. And that big person is being replaced by the clergy, the clergy which is 'weaponized.' [...] A senior law enforcement official in Multan says 19 mosques and madrassas, or religious schools, are known to be patronized by activists suspected of terrorist activities. In the Multan district alone, 63 people are under strict surveillance. [...] But Ayesha Saddiqa, a Pakistani security analyst and visiting professor at Johns Hopkins University, says it's not just madrassas in underprivileged places that are providing recruits. Young, tech-savvy engineers from government-run schools are quietly being pulled into the militant network, too."

Read the full story.

Related articles:
Punjab forms anti-terrorism board, The Express Tribune, 13 July 2010
39 suspects arrested during crackdown across Punjab, Daily Times, 13 July 2010
Pakistan political cancer grows [OpEd], The Australian, 8 July 2010

Related posts:
Beyond madrasas: Assessing the links between education and militancy in Pakistan, 23 June 2010
Punjabi Taliban split from established militant groups, 17 June 2010
Terror groups join forces, form "networked outfit", 11 June 2010
Punjab extremists more numerous, more entrenched than NW Taliban, 7 June 2010
Official confirms Taliban in Punjab, rules out military action, 3 June 2010
Education system and links to extremism, 3 November 2009

Govt Works to Tame Taliban and Nationalist Sympathies in Balochistan

Pakistan Works to Tame Taliban and Nationalist Sympathies, CNN, 7 July 2010

EXCERPT: "Pakistan is taking a page from America's counterinsurgency playbook in trying to win the hearts and the minds of those who might otherwise join Taliban militants or Balochistan nationalists against its military. Balochistan province - Pakistan's largest and one of its most troubled - is home to a nationalist insurgency and an increasingly violent Taliban presence. The sight of Baloch troops marching in the Pakistani army might have been unimaginable three years ago, but recruits are now training to fight for the army, not against it. More than 3,500 such troops have been recruited since 2007, commanders say. 'The whole exercise is to integrate the Balochi youth,' said Gen. Athar Abbas, a Pakistani army spokesman. 'If you encourage people all over the province to join the army and the state system ... that is going to diffuse whatever insurgency is left in these parts.' Part of that encouragement includes education. [...] The army said its soldiers gave up a day's pay, more than a million dollars, to build a school. The sum of their efforts have built 25 schools, 12 mosques and four health clinics. But siding with the military can come at a cost. Tribal leader Rab Nawaz Zing said he's been attacked 18 times for supporting the army. He blames other tribal chiefs. 'If you want schools, you get shot,' he said. 'They say we don't need health centers and roads.'"

Read the full story.

Related articles:
Few women health workers in Balochistan, IRIN News, 7 July 2010

Related posts:
Govt fails to curtail violence in Balochistan, 6 July 2010
Baloch nationalism offers strong resistance to govt efforts, 30 March 2010
Security forces accused of sabotaging "hearts and minds" campaign in Balochistan, 2 February 2010
Military undermines government on human rights, 21 January 2010
Strategic Balochistan becomes a target in war against Taliban, 22 December 2009
Reforms for insurgency-hit province unveiled, 24 November 2009

Islamic Charities and Human Security in Pakistan

Islamic Charities and Human Security in Pakistan, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, 12 May 2010

EXCERPT: "Pakistan, insists Christopher Candland, is neither a failed nor a failing state. Key institutions—such as the military, judiciary, and legislature—are all strong and growing even stronger. However, the Pakistani state is failing to provide basic services to its 180-million strong population—one in which, according to Candland, 32 percent subsist below the poverty line and more than 65 percent 'struggle to survive' on or below $2 a day. Speaking at a May 12 Asia Program event, Candland, a 2009-2010 Woodrow Wilson Center Fellow, argued that Pakistan’s Islamic welfare associations—charitable organizations motivated both operationally and financially by the Muslim faith—play an important role in providing for the country's most needy. In fact, these charities make a major contribution to Pakistanis' human security (a term Candland described as 'the capacity of the individual to protect oneself from harm,' which requires access to quality health care and education). [...] Candland described three categories of Islamic welfare associations in Pakistan. One is state-based. [...] The second category of Pakistani Islamic charities is partisan. It is comprised of both Islamic political parties (such as the Jamaat-i-Islami) and political parties that feature Islamic welfare systems. [...] While these partisan associations mainly focus on education, Candland stated that the third category of Islamic charities—nonpartisan associations—mostly emphasize health care."

Read the full summary.
Watch the video of the event.

Related articles:
Is Pakistan a failed state? No., Foreign Policy // The AfPak Channel, 24 June 2010
Pakistan: The Lost Generation - Fixing Pakistan's Schools [article & video], PBS // Frontline, 23 February 2010

Related posts:
Beyond madrasas: Assessing the links between education and militancy in Pakistan, 23 June 2010
New controls on militant charities stifle Eid fundraiser, 8 December 2009
Hardline Pakistani schools a draw for foreigners, 14 December 2009
Lack of basic education fuels rise in Taliban, extremism, 9 November 2009
Education system and links to extremism, 3 November 2009

Beyond Madrasas: Assessing the Links Between Education and Militancy in Pakistan

Beyond Madrasas: Assessing the Links Between Education and Militancy in Pakistan, The Brookings Institution, June 2010

EXCERPT: "Increasing educational attainment is likely to reduce conflict risk, especially in countries like Pakistan that have very low levels of primary and secondary school enrollment. Education quality, relevance and content also have a role to play in mitigating violence. Education reform must therefore be a higher priority for all stakeholders interested in a more peaceful and stable Pakistan. [...] The price of ignoring Pakistan’s education challenges is simply too great in a country where half the population is under the age of 17. There has been much debate concerning the roots of militancy in Pakistan, and multiple factors clearly come into play. One risk factor that has attracted much attention both inside Pakistan and abroad is the dismal state of the national education sector. Despite recent progress, current school attainment and literacy levels remain strikingly low, as does education spending. The Pakistani education sector, like much of the country’s public infrastructure, has been in decline over recent decades."

Read the full overview.
Read the full report [pdf].

Related articles:
Military offensive not needed in South Punjab, says IG Pak Punjab, SIfy News, 23 June 2010
Resuscitating a dying project, The News International, 23 June 2010
US report ties militancy to Pakistan school woes, Reuters, 21 June 2010

Related posts:
Taliban brainwashing kids into killers: Military, 5 January 2010
Hardline Pakistani schools a draw for foreigners, 14 December 2009
The Taliban's war on schoolchildren, 4 December 2009
Lack of basic education fuels rise in Taliban, extremism, 9 November 2009
Education system and links to extremism, 3 November 2009

Taliban Threaten Girls' Schools in Balochistan

"Follow Islamic Dress Code or Else…", The Express Tribune, 16 May 2010

EXCERPT: "Suspected militants have threatened several girls schools in Quetta to follow 'proper Islamic dress code' or else they will be attacked. The threat was issued in letters sent to several girls school in the provincial capital. The letter warned teachers and administrators of dire consequences if they ignored the letter. It claimed that informers of militants were present among students and teachers in all schools of the province. A Baloch insurgency and sectarian clashes have claimed hundreds of lives over the past three years in the province. But threats to girls schools have been uncommon in the province, especially in Quetta."

Read the full story.

Related articles:
SHO among six wounded in Quetta blast, DAWN, 19 May 2010
Five injured in hand grenade explosion in SW Pakistan's Quetta city, China View, 16 May 2010
TTP warns Balochistan schools against allowing students to wear "western" clothes, Thaindian, 15 May 2010
5 schools shut down in Quetta, The Nation, 15 May 2010
Assassination spike threatens new Pakistan flashpoint, SifyNews, 2 May 2010

Related posts:
Education in chaos in northern conflict zone, 21 April 2010
Quetta: Between four regions and two conflicts, 4 March 2010
Huge increase in school attacks: Report, 16 February 2010
The Quetta Shura Taliban in southern Afghanistan, 12 January 2010
The Taliban's war on schoolchildren, 4 December 2009

Education in Chaos in Northern Conflict Zone

Education Chaos in Northern Conflict Zone, AlertNet, 21 April 2010

EXCERPT: "Schools across the conflict-zone in Pakistan's northern areas are open, but many are damaged, and there are concerns about the quality of education and funding for schools for displaced children in camps. In Swat District, where Taliban militants destroyed 356 schools according to government officials, pupils are back in class. 'My son's school was badly damaged in 2009 by fire. Now the children sit outdoors, or on the floors of gutted classrooms that lack walls or roofs,' Imdad Hassan, 40, told IRIN from the town of Kabal in Swat. He said many schools operated in similar fashion after they were re-opened last year. The situation is also chaotic in the Bajaur tribal area, where schools re-opened in March. 'The school infrastructure has been badly damaged. Records have been destroyed and many buildings are in ruins,' said Ibrash Pasha, who works in Dir District in North West Frontier Province (NWFP) with the local Khwendo Kor NGO which sets up schools for girls. He said parents were eager to educate children but were hampered by the slow effort to restore buildings."

Read the full story.

Related articles:
At top university, a fight for Pakistan’s future, The New York Times, 21 April 2010
2 schools blown up in NW Pakistan, China View, 17 April 2010
Attackers kill 6 at Islamic University in Pakistan, mystifying students, The New York Times, 20 October 2009

Related posts:
16 schools blown up in February, 26 February 2010
Huge increase in school attacks: Report, 16 February 2010
Bomb kills eight at school opening, 3 February 2010
Lack of basic education fuels rise in Taliban, extremism, 9 November 2009

16 Schools Blown Up in February

"Militants Blow Up 16 Pak Schools in February", AFP via Yahoo! News, 26 February 2010

EXCERPT: "Taliban-linked militants have blown up a school in northwest Pakistan, bringing to 16 the number of such attacks this month, officials said Friday. 'Militants blew up 16 boys' and girls' schools in the tribal regions of Mohmand, Bajaur, Khyber and Dara Adamkhel during the current month,' provincial education minister, Sardar Hussain Babak told AFP. He blamed the attacks on Taliban and other extremist groups, including Lashkar-e-Islam, which has some links to Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). The latest government boys' high school to be attacked was blown up overnight in Mohmand tribal region, officials said. 'All 21 rooms in the school building were destroyed after bombs planted in seven different places went off,' local administration official Roshan Khan told AFP. Another official Maqsood Khan confirmed the incident and said no one was hurt in the attack, which he blamed on the Taliban."

Read the full story.

Related articles:
Taliban blow up boys' school in Mohmand, DAWN, 13 February 2010

Related reports:
The threat of political and military attacks on schools, students and education staff (2010) [pdf], United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, 2009. Discussion of Pakistan starts on page 12.

Related posts:
Huge increase in school attacks: Report, 16 February 2010
Bomb kills eight at school opening, 3 February 2010
The Taliban's war on schoolchildren, 4 December 2009
Suicide bombers cause torment for Pakistani children, 17 November 2009

Huge Increase in School Attacks: Report

Education under Attack 2010, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, 10 February 2010

EXCERPT: "Even taking into account the increased reporting there has been a spike in attacks in Afghanistan: 670 in 2008, up from 241 in 2007. Pakistan has also seen a huge increase in two years, with 356 schools destroyed or damaged...'We need to encourage national or international war crimes investigations in some of the situations where attacks on schools and teachers are well publicized and the perpetrators have made their intentions clear through published orders and declarations,' said Mr O’Malley [report consultant]. 'Afghanistan, Pakistan, India and Thailand are good examples.'"

Read the full news release.

"In the Swat District in North West Frontier Province (NWFP), 172 schools were destroyed or damaged between 2007 and March 2009 as the Taliban fought and eventually took control of the area. Most were burnt down by Taliban militants; others were shelled, blasted, demolished or ransacked, leaving 108 schools fully destroyed and 64 schools partially damaged. The action deprived 23,000 girls and 17,000 boys of their education. More schools were closed due to occupation by Taliban groups or by security forces, or because female teachers were being threatened. In August 2009, by which time the army had regained control of the Swat Valley but was still fighting the Taliban in pockets of the district and surrounding area, NWFP education minister Qazi Asad claimed that 356 schools had been damaged by the Taliban."

Read the full report [pdf]. The Pakistan section starts on page 215.

Related articles:
Taliban blow up boy's school in Mohmand, DAWN, 13 February 2010
Education for all by 2015 target difficult to achieve: Minister, DAWN, 12 January 2010
Pakistan's displaced girls and women - an opportunity for education, Brookings, 11 June 2009

Related reports:
Protecting education from attack: A state-of-the-art review [pdf], United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, 2010

Related posts:
Bomb kills eight at school opening, 3 February 2010
Poor schooling hampers anti-terrorism efforts, 20 January 2010
The Taliban's war on schoolchildren, 4 December 2009
Lack of basic education fuels rise in Taliban, extremism, 9 November 2009
Suicide bombers cause torment for Pakistani children, 17 November 2009

Bomb Kills Eight at School Opening

Blast Hits Pakistan School Opening, Al Jazeera, 3 February 2010

EXCERPT: "A roadside bomb has killed at least eight people, including three US military personnel and four school girls, near a girls' school in northwest Pakistan. Local police said that Wednesday's blast was caused by an improvised explosive device... Pakistani officials said a Frontier Corps soldier and four schoolgirls also died. 'We have four dead bodies (in this hospital). They are schoolgirls aged 10 to 15. We have received 65 injured, most of them are girls,' Mohammed Wakeel, chief doctor at the local Taimargara hospital, said. Pakistan's Taliban claimed responsibility for the bombing and threatened more attacks. 'We claim responsibility for the blast,' Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) spokesman Azam Tariq said. The school had been blown up in January 2009 and rebuilt with the help of a foreign aid organisation. Foreign aid workers and journalists have been particularly interested in girls' education in parts of northwest Pakistan, where Taliban fighters opposed to co-education have destroyed hundreds of schools."

Read the full story.

Related articles:
US doubts soldiers killed in Pakistan directly targeted, AFP, 3 February 2010
Fresh attacks on Pakistan schools, BBC News, 19 January 2010
Schools in Swat re-open, IRIN News, 3 August 2009
Taliban area of Pakistan lets girls attend school, The New York Times, 2 March 2009
US military trainers to head to Pakistan, CNN, 10 April 2008

Related reports:
US aid to Pakistan: Countering extremism through education reform, The Heritage Foundation, 9 May 2007

Related posts:
Poor schooling hampers anti-terrorism efforts, 20 January 2010
The Taliban's war on schoolchildren, 4 December 2009
Lack of basic education fuels rise in Taliban, extremism, 9 November 2009
Suicide bombers cause torment for Pakistani children, 17 November 2009
Education system and links to extremism, 3 November 2009