patna: a section of muslim residents of the city appears to be angry with pakistan president pervez musharraf following the crackdown on madrasas there. is a similar crackdown in order in india? no, say madrasa teachers and students as well as muslim scholars. they feel the situations in india and pakistan cannot be compared. "when i go to my village in munger district, i am contemptuously referred to as an isi agent. it hurts," said sikandar ahmad, a student of the madrasa islamia shamsul hoda (mish), one of the largest and oldest government-aided madrasas of bihar. "having faith in religion and offering namaz is not funadamentalism," said mish principal abdul kalam qasmi shamsi, adding that none of the 4,000-odd government-aided madrasas in the state teaches fundamentalism to the students. "these madrasa children are not trained to handle guns and bombs. they are taught to be good and responsible citizens," shamsi said. to him, pakistan's is a different case altogether and "the conditions of that country are different". while shamsi was mild on musharraf, others did not mince words. "musharraf should be shot dead by his people," fumed khuda bakhsh oriental library director mohammad ziauddin ansari. before the attack on parliament in new delhi, "musharraf did not utter a word on fundamentalism in madrasas," he said, adding that the crackdown on them is at the dictates of america. "why should the events in pakistan affect india? zulifikar ali bhutto was hanged, and nawaz sharif was almost shot dead. did we follow that?" asked ansari while insisting that madrasas are not the breeding ground of islamic fundamentalism. bihar has witnessed a spurt in the activities of fundamentalist groups like the students islamic movement of india (simi). "it's wrong to associate groups like the simi with madrasa education. most of the simi members have non-madrasa background," stressed shamsi. "like any other education system, there are dropouts in the madrasa education system. the education of these students is incomplete and, therefore, they are vulnerable to fundamentalism," stated ansari while stressing that he does not consider the mushrooming madrasas near the indo-nepal border as true madrasas because they offer economic lurements to recruit students. phulwarisharif, a muslim dominated area in patna, saw a surge of sympathy for osama bin laden and even witnessed a rally in his favour by youths, leading to communal tension. "the reason for the tension was america hurting religious sentiments. they dubbed him as a terrorist without showing any proof of his involvement," said a resident of phulwarisharif defending the rally. though there are talks of modernising madrasa education, there are people like ansari opposing the move. "it's an age of specialisation. like any other field there has to be specialised religious teaching. of what use a subject like physics be to a student of religion? he said. the growing suspicion about madaras has made their supporters recall history. "the samsul hoda madrasa was one of the epicentres of the freedom movement," stated samsi. "if madrasas had not contributed to the freedom movement, india would never have obtained independence," said ansari.

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