PFI-Nepal Islami Sangh and the danger of Madrasas along Indo-Nepal border

Many have spoken about the importance of regulating the unrecognised Madrasas. It is important to keep a check on the studies they impart to the students

New Delhi, Feb 09: In a much needed exercise, the Uttar Pradesh government has begun tracking the funding source of Madrasas in the state. It was found that nearly 1,500 unrecognised Madrasas running along the India-Nepal border were being funded by unknown sources and the UP government has launched an exercise to track the same.

The survey found that these Madrasas are located in Balrampur, Shravasti, Maharajganj, Siddharthnagar, Bahraich and Lakhimpur Kheri districts. When asked about the source of funding, the state was told that they received zakat money from Kolkata, Chennai, Mumbai, Delhi and Hyderabad. The suspicion grew when the authorities did not find any record of the same.

The move is a very important one as foreign funding to Madrasas is highly dangerous in terms of radicalisation. The funding for these unrecognised Madrasas in particular is a concern because they do not fall under the purview of the government or agencies. This would mean that they would put out the radical ideology of those funding them.

Back in 2001, it had come to the notice of the agencies that there was a spurt in the number of Madrasas thanks to foreign funding.

A state-wide survey conducted by the UP government found that 60 Madrasas in Prayagraj were running without obtaining permission or approval from the competent authority. Further it was found that Madrasas in Prayagraj had received 9.68 crore from foreign sources.

The UP government had said in 2022 that as many as 8,500 unrecognised Madrasas were operating in the state.

Infiltrating the Madrasas:

Abhinav Pandya, a Cornell University graduate in public affairs tells OneIndia that the PFI penetrated all the Madrasas along the India-Nepal border from Uttarakhand to West Bengal. They are more active on the Nepal side of the border, where there is a Madrasa every ten kilometres.

Monitoring the Madrasas along the India-Nepal border is because most of them are connected with the PFI and its sister entity, the Islami Nepal Sangh.

The penetration into the Madrasas began from a few years back as the PFI was expecting to get banned. It got this information from its assets in the police, intelligence an other state institutions, Pandya also said.

The foreign funded Madrasas:

The foreign funded Madrasas are not only a concern in Uttar Pradesh, but in other parts of the country as well. An official explains to OneIndia that the drive by the UP government must be replicated in all states. It is important to bring radicalisation under check. Not just this, the Madrasas are also being used to convert people to Islam and in many cases it has been found that the foreign funds have been used for the same.

Further it has also been seen that these funds are used to publish and distribute with rabid material, aimed at radicalisation. However if these Madrasas continue to receive foreign funding, then it is extremely difficult for any state to streamline the education system.

In some cases, terror links too have been found. For instance recently a private Madrasa in Assam's Bongaigaon district was demolished over alleged terror links with the Al Qaeda in the Sub-Continent (AQIS). Following this, Assam's police chief, Bhaskar Jyoti Mahanta told reporters that to counter-radicalise Madrasas, over 100 small, private Madrasas have been merged with large ones. Small Madrasas with less than 50 students will be merged with the bigger ones, he said.