Saudis and Pakistani madrasahs

Talat Shamim

Dhu al-Hijjah 16, 1433 2012-11-01

Letters To The Editor

by Talat Shamim (Letters To The Editor, Crescent International Vol. 41, No. 9, Dhu al-Hijjah, 1433)

The Saudis use quite sophisticated methods to finance the creation of a mindset that leads to suicide bombers, says a reader.

I do not agree with Dr. Maqbool Ahmed Shahid’s point that the Saudis are not financing madrasahs in Pakistan (letter to the editor, October 2012). Even if it was the “big shaitan” that first made the allegation, it does not disprove the point, nor that “even Pakistan’s intelligence agencies have failed to produce any evidence.”

Such operations are carried out in a more sophisticated manner than Saudis simply handing out sacks of dollars or riyals. At the time of the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, the Saudis, Kuwaitis and other oil-rich monarchies financed various projects to create a mindset that would serve American imperial designs. At the University of Nebraska (US) Saudi-funded and directed literature was produced to spread among Afghan and Pakistani students in madrasahs.

It is naïve to assume that the Saudis would abandon such activities once the Soviets were driven out of Afghanistan. Today they are financing suicide bombers in Syria (admitted by them) and in Iraq (not acknowledged). As for the agencies, they don’t want to find any evidence; they need the suicide bombers for their own purposes.

Talat Shamim

Chicago, IL, US