Critics blast Norwegian aid to 'Koran schools' in Pakistan

[Aptrgangr]

Critics blast Norwegian aid to 'Koran schools' in Pakistan

Norway's Foreign Ministry has been sending financial aid to controversial religious schools in Pakistan. Researchers and local Pakistani experts want it to stop, as does a conservative politician.


Government Minister Erik Solheim said the aid was aimed at promoting dialogue and religious tolerance.
PHOTO: SCANPIX / KYRRE LIEN


Critics aren't at all sure that's what will happen.
PHOTO: SCANPIX/AFP

As much as NOK 6 million (more than USD 1 million) has gone to 118 so-called "Koran schools" in northwest Pakistan. Some local experts, however, fear Norway risks supporting fundamentalist groups because it makes no demands on the schools' curriculum.

Karin Ask, a researcher at the Christian Michelsen Institute, told newspaper Dagsavisen that Norway could wind up even supporting jihadists, those encouraging holy war.

The research institution International Crisis Group (ICG) also worries about any "uncritical" support of the schools, claiming that they mount a "considerable danger" to international security.

The ICG noted that Koran schools in Karachi, for example, have trained jihad warriors and sent them to both Afghanistan and Kashmir. Ask told Dagsavisen that there's no reason to believe schools in northwestern Pakistan wouldn't do the same, not least because that area is known as a recruiting ground for jihadists.
Norway's government minister in charge of foreign aid, Erik Solheim, claims the goal of the aid project was to "promote dialogue."
He doesn't dismiss either Ask's or ICG’s concerns, and said the Koran school support project will be evaluated.

Solheim, of the Socialist Left (SV) party, said he also hoped the aid to the schools would further religious tolerance. "We figure that the schools that choose to take part in the project are hardly those that are in tight with al-Qaida," he said. "We want to be a counterbalance to the fundamentalists."
The foreign policy spokesman for the Progress Party, Morten Høglund, remained concerned and wants the aid cut off.
"At a time when people all over the globe are working to fight fundamentalism and terror, the Norwegian authorities chose to sponsor the type of schools known for breeding fundamentalism," Høglund claimed. "That must end immediately."

Critics blast Norwegian aid to \'Koran schools\' in Pakistan - Aftenposten.no