Osama likely in custody, says 'Father of Taliban'

OSAMA bin Laden is most likely alive and in the custody of intelligence agencies in the border areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan, said Pakistani Islamic scholar Maulana Sami ul-Haq, who is often referred to as the “Father of Taliban”.

“I don’t think Osama is on the run anymore or hiding anywhere in the region,” said Maulana ul-Haq. Haq runs the Darul Uloom Haqqania madrassa (religious school) which produced most of the Taliban fighters in Afghanistan, including their leader, Mullah Omar.

Haq is chancellor of Dar Ul Uloom Haqqani school located in Akhora Khattak. The school, on Pakistan’s border with Afghanistan, is thought to have sent thousands of Mujahideen (fighters) during the Afghan War.

“The Mullah challenged this charge. More people from non-madrassa institutions and from abroad went to fight the Russian invasion, than madrassa students,” he said.

“After the Russian withdrawal, Afghanistan was mired in factional feuds. The Taliban movement gained strength because they filled the vacuum and cleansed the country of warlords, restored order, and eradicated the narcotics trade to unite the country,” he said.

“I think the movement aimed to end the chaos in Afghanistan after the collapse of the Soviet Union, and the Taliban was similar to other student-backed movements around the world – save for the violence,” added Maulana ul-Haq, who is also chairman, Standing Committee on Religious Affairs and Minorities in Pakistan’s Senate (upper house).

“Yet, the Taliban movement was vicious and used force to capture much of Afghanistan, but do you think any other way was possible in a country mired by decades of war?” he asked.

Explaining the role of madrassas and their operations, Maulana ul-Haq said, “A madrassa offers education, clothing, food and accommodation, all for free to its students, regardless of where they come from, and compared to the class-oriented commercial education system that the colonialists left behind in the region, madrassas remain a welfare institution.”

According to the Maulana, madrassas for hundreds of years, had been at the forefront of preserving the religious values and ethics of the Muslims of the region. “In fact, if it weren’t up to them, the present-day Muslim countries of the Indian sub-continent might as well have been another Spain,” he said.

Some 5,000 students continue to study at the school, which according to Haq is purely an education center, with no active involvement in illegalities.