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U.S. Blacklists Pakistani Madrassa for Terror Links

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The U.S. Treasury Department recently designated the Taleem-Ul-Quran-Wal-Hadith Madrassa in Peshawar, Pakistan, an organization that provides financial and training support for various terrorist groups. Clerics of the religious school, also known as the Ganj madrassa, spoke out on Thursday and denied allegations of having connections to groups like the Taliban and Al-Qaeda.

The website of the Treasury Department claimed that the madrassa had been found to be a training center and funding magnet for the international terrorist organization known as Al-Qaeda, the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan as well as the Pakistani militant group Lashkar-e-Tayyeba (LeT). The designation marks the first of its kind issued by the department, which oversees the U.S. government's national and international financial policies, and would mean any assets of the madrassa and its associates under U.S. jurisdiction would be frozen and business with American citizens is strictly prohibited.

In its statement released online, the Treasury Department said that while this is the first time it has blacklisted a madrassa, it is quite common for terrorist organizations to "subvert" religious schools and exploit them for their own financial and recruitment purposes.

The clerics of the Ganj madrassa reiterated reacted strongly to the designation and vehemently denied any connections with terrorist groups.

"Here, people practice religion, they offer prayers and study," said Sher Alam, a cleric at the madrassa. "Students are not trained to carry out suicide attacks."

In the past, U.S. intelligence agencies and military establishment have frequently indentified Pakistan's tribal belt as a safe haven for Taliban militants and terrorist networks, accusing religious schools specifically of harboring and supporting them. Though Afghan officials have also made similar statements.

TOLOnews published a special report on the Taliban's suicide bombings in Afghanistan on July 5. In the report, it was said that many security experts conclude that for suicide attacks the Taliban primarily relies on young boys that it recruits from rural areas of Afghanistan and trains in Madrassas across the border in Pakistan.

"Four Taliban insurgents came from Pakistan to Kunar and Nuristan provinces and they told local families that the Taliban had madrassas across the border in Pakistan where they could train and educate children," said Sediq Sediqi, the Afghan Ministry of Interior spokesman, regarding a specific case he had hear about back in July. "Consequently, 42 children ages 6-14 were sent to Pakistan."

Nevertheless, in its statement, the U.S. treasury made a point of trying to avoid any interpretation of its action being a blanket indictment of Islamic religious schools.

"This action does not generally target madrassas, which often play an essential role in improving literacy and providing humanitarian and developmental aid in many areas of the world, including Pakistan," the statement said.

Yet supporters of the Ganj madrassa have insisted that the school has no involvement in insurgent or terrorist activities.

"We urge all media organizations to visit our madrassa and show to the world that we only impart religious lessons to the students. The U.S. decision to blacklist our madrassa is not right," said Maulana Muhammad Ibrahim, an administrator at the madrassa.

"Many students study in this madrassa, we are not taught terrorism. We do not think about such things, we learn the Quran and Hadith here," a student at the madrassa said.

Additionally, the Taliban chose to speak out about the Treasury Department's designation. In a statement it released, the insurgent group took it upon itself to deny any affiliation with the madrassa, affirming that only religious lessons are taught there.

Although the Treasury Department did not divulge any details as to where its intelligence about the supposed ties between the madrassa and terrorist groups came from, it did note that the school is under the control of Fazeel-a-Tul Sheikh Abu Mohammed Amin Al-Peshawari, who was designated an Al-Qaeda facilitator by the U.S. and United Nations back in 2009.


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