(20 Jul 2005)
1. Exterior of Madrassa Zamia Binaural
2. Close-up of sign board
3. Various interior with students reciting Holy Duran
4. Sign board for "Department of Foreign Students", students are sitting
5. SOUNDBITE: (English and part Arabic) Farnham Maul, US Citizen, student in madrassa:
"In Islam there is nothing like that and I totally disagree with the situation. This is not part of Islam. And whoever is doing that is all cowardly. (I'm) trying to make a point that this is not a war tactic. This is not a way to fight. This is not a way that you make your way and present yourself. Islam is different than that. This is not the way Islam is shown and Islam is done. The suicide bombing is not part of Islam and none of these teachings are taught in our books, in our schools. The only thing that are taught are the words of Allah - and the words of the Prophet 'peace be upon him' - which are the words of love and affection between Muslim people."
6. Students with madrassa teacher
STORYLINE
Pakistan's religious schools, known as madrassas, have become the focus of international attention in the wake of the London bombings.
Reports following the attacks alleged that one of the British-born suspects of Pakistani ancestry, Shezhad Tanweer, had visited one of the Islamic schools in the eastern city of Lahore.
British-born born Muslims of Pakistani origin are part of a larger group of foreign nationals who study at madrassas.
The authorities in Pakistan are said to have begun a countrywide investigation of the schools to root out any clandestine militant groups who may operating within their walls.
The Binnori Town Islamic school in Karachi is home to over 3,000 students, including some 81 from countries such as the US, UK and European countries.
Muslim families who find their own country's formal religious education wanting despatch their children to seminaries in Pakistan.
Some in the western media have suggested that extremism and hatred for the West is bred in the madrassas.
Pakistan has an estimated 10,000 madrassas and President Musharraf's government is under severe external pressure to curb Muslim militancy and extremism.
However, it is feared that any crackdown, with further raids and arrests, could serve as a catalyst for the type of divisive national unrest that followed when Pakistan signed up to the Bush administration's "War on Terror" in the wake of the September 11 attacks and the subsequent war in Afghanistan.
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