Exclusive: Inside Islamabad's madrassa
Updated on 02 April 2007
In Pakistan's capital, Islamabad, thousands of girls and young women holed up in a madrassah in the city centre have launched their own mini jihad.
The students of Jamia Hafsa Islamic school have taken over a public library, and begun their own campaign to clean up the city's red light district. They've done it all in full view of city authorities, and in defiance of the President, General Pervez Musharraf.
They start young at Pakistan's largest girls' madrassah. In the most junior classes, children as young as four begin their religious instruction.
None of the girls normally cover their faces inside - but as our camera ventures into the halls, students are told to cover up.
There's no access to computers, but these students are learning the names for basic technology in English. Their teachers make sure they keep themselves obscured.
The Talibanisation of Pakistan?
The classrooms of the madrassa are an extraordinary sight, and few cameras have ever been allowed inside. While the girls would not normally wear veils indoors, the fact we were filming meant they did.
The politics of headscarves aside, it's tough filming in these situations. Or at least tough to tell the stories of these girls and women, without showing their faces, and their expressions. Commentators here are talking of the Talibanisation of Pakistan. Of course the Taliban burns down girls' schools in Afghanistan, so it's possibly not the right term.
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With more than 4000 students, some classrooms are packed full. There are a number of assistants - but the head teacher sits outside since he is male.
Men linger elsewhere on the fringes of the school. In reception, family members can deliver supplies to their daughters and sisters through a revolving door.
The girls don't get out much except when they decide it's time for what they describe as 'agitation.'
"I would say that Rudy Giuliani when he became mayor of New York, closed the brothels - was that also talibanisation? You never said that. Nobody said that."- Abdul Rashid Ghazi, Deputy Head of Jamia Hafsa Madrassa
Last week, they appointed themselves vice and virtue police, and armed with sticks kidnapped a woman from her home who they said was a brothel owner.
They called a press conference, and forced her to make a public confession - which she withdrew when she and her daughters were released.
They kidnapped the police officers who came to arrest their teachers. All were released unharmed.
At the same time, male students from their brother madrassa have begun attacking video shops in the capital.
Some Pakistani commentators are talking about the Talibanisation of Pakistan. Is that what's going on here?
"It's very obvious the government doesn't have the will and clearly not even the intent to take action against the jihadi madrassas."- Samina Ahmed, South Asia Director, International Crisis Group
These days, his followers at the girls' madrassah are challenging forces closer to home.. namely the government of Pervez Musharraf.
They say they chose a more radical path, when their madrassah was raided in the wake of the 7/7 bombings. The girls have now occupied a public library, next to their madrassah. They've made some changes - like erasing pictures deemed un-Islamic.
They say they've no plans to leave. Although the President would like them to. He's asked them nicely. Or at least, he's asked religious leaders on TV to ask them nicely.
"Speak to the women - ask them, what are they doing? They are imposing their views on others. They are trying to spread their ideas across Pakistan. It will not happen. You will harm Pakistan - you will harm yourselves. There will be no results." - President Musharraf of Pakistan.
Fine words, but it's not playing well for President Musharraf. Five years after he promised a crack down on madrassas, he's unable to swat away jihadi playtime in his own neighbourhood.
"It's very obvious the government doesn't have the will and clearly not even the intent to take action against the jihadi madrassas. This happened in the federal capital. Think of all those jihadi madrassas' out there - where you don't see this visible challenge being posed to the government's writ and yet no action whatsoever."- Samina Ahmed, South Asia Director, International Crisis Group.
For now, the schoolgirl army is making the most of its victories and vowing to continue its campaign. Moderate Muslims, in the majority here are watching anxiously for how this critical moment for General Musharraf might end.
