Tablighi Jamaat centre breeding ground for extremists, says Malik

Senator Rehman Malik told the audience at the security think-tank International Institute of Strategic Studies (IISS) while speaking on the topic of “Countering Extremism in South Asia”.

Rehman Malik said that all the terrorists arrested in Pakistan had three elements in common: they have visited the missionary Tablighi centre in Lahore’s Raiwind; their close family members have taken part in Afghan war of the Soviet era and they have been to one of the more than 25,000 madrassahs which have mushroomed in Pakistan following the USA and Pakistan’s joint war against the Communist USSR. 

Malik spoke at length about the rise of religious and ethnic extremism in Pakistan and India, nexus of Al-Qaeda, Pakistani Taliben and sectarian groups such as Lashkare-e-jehangvi and Lashkar-e-Jehnagvi from the mainland Pakistan and how Al-Qaeda couldn’t operate in Pakistan without the help of Pakistani originated groups. 

In response to a question asked by The News, Malik said that Lahskar-e-Jahangvi leader Malik Ishaq is a terrorist and was given life imprisonment which he has already completed but after being released from the court he “is under observation. 

Source: The News