Is Pak’s Al-huda centre an extremist breeding ground?

ISLAMABAD: Long before Al-huda Institute shot into the limelight for its links with Tashfeen Malik, one of the shooters in the San Bernardino killings, the conservative school was blamed by some in Pakistan for radicalising thousands of women, including wives of civil and military officials.

Malik, 29, enrolled for a course on the Quran at an Al-huda centre in 2013. After she and her husband Syed Rizwan Farook killed 14 people in California, Pakistani investigators named Al-huda for having played a role in Malik’s radicalisation.

Karachi-based Al-huda is run by controversial cleric Farhat Hashmi, who founded the group with her husband Idrees Zubair in 1994. Hashmi insists she is pursuing a moderate version of Islam but her detractors say Al-huda has had a role in radicalising thousands of women because of its conservative views.

Hashmi hails from Sargodha and she is steeped in the “dars” (studies) of the Jamaat-e-islami. Like the Jamaat-e-islami, Al-huda too has the support of Pakistan’s military establishment and it is unlikely its followers will be questioned about their activities.

“It is unclear whether any investigation will be undertaken against Al-huda because the wives of a number of senior military officers are members of this group,” said analyst Khaled Ahmad. Al-huda has branches in many cities of the US and Canada and thousands of adherents worldwide. It also has a branch in Bengaluru.

Hashmi migrated to Canada a decade ago to expand her network, and her followers are known for their hardline views and wear an all encompassing burqa of the type banned in parts of France.

In the past, activists linked to Al Qaeda were apprehended from the homes of people allied to the Jamaat-e-islami, and observers now fear that educated Pakistani women radicalised by organisations such as Al-huda could drift towards groups like the Islamic State. According to a book on Hashmi, women members of Al-huda are turned against both the West and India. The belief that a denouncement of cultural practices and disapproval of Westerners and Indians helps women redefine their own identity as Muslims is part of the group’s teachings.

In her speeches, Hashmi has said she thinks Osama bin Laden is an Islamic warrior. Women were told that tens of thousands of Pakistanis died in the 2005 earthquake because they were involved in immoral activities and had left the path of Islam.

Questions linger about the activities and funding of Al-huda but Pakistan’s intelligence agencies have refused to conduct any inquiries.

“We are at this point not looking at religious organisations or their source of funding,” said interior minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan.