Pakistani terror group Lashkar-e-Tayabba’s front Falah-e-Insaniyat Foundation is funding a little known Hazi Baba Trust to convert regular schools in Afghanistan into madrassas with a view to radicalise young students for carrying out terrorist action in that country and beyond. 

While Taliban did not have problems with modern education but just wanted to ensure that the schools must respect Islam and Islamic values. However, Taliban does not have much funds and has approached Pakistan for funding. But Islamabad did not officially fund the Taliban and instead funded the Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation (FIF) for radicalisation activities in Afghanistan, sources said.

However, the Falah-e-Insaniyat distorted the Taliban’s stand on fusion of modern education with Islamic values into converting the regular schools purely into madrassas.

The FIF has begun converting the schools in certain provinces there into madrassas.

While the educational institutions are at the brink of collapse, the terror groups like the LeT, an affiliate of Al Qaeda, is seeking to ramp up funding in the garb of imparting Islamic education. The real motive, however, is to create a cadre of radicalized youth from Afghanistan to perpetuate the terror network there and send them to countries like Malaysia and Indonesia to further the LeT agenda there, the sources said.

The donations are also layered by the FIF through shell Non-Governmental Organisations to portray the outfit as charity fronts. 

Al Qaeda and ISIS have in the past registered shell NGOs and recruited their cadres to man these social welfare organisations and deputed them to other countries for terror activities. These terror groups have in the past spotted and recruited people in other countries in lieu of humanitarian relief.

Founder President of Afghanistan Republican Salvation Front (ARSF) and counter-terrorism analyst of Afghan origin Dr Ajmal Sohail said, “This a dangerous trend as the gains made in the past two decades will be negated through disruption of schools granting modern education. There is a need to check the trend and keep the schools and madrassas segregated.”

The Taliban must ensure due diligence while apportioning relief materials and funds to the NGOs so that they are not exploited as fronts for radicalisation and recruitment. Background checks should be undertaken before funding and allowing activities by the NGOs.