On The Release Of American Children From Taliban Madrassa

From an email:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE	News@KarachiKids.com
Thursday, July 10, 2008	(404) 524-2244

STATEMENT OF IMRAN RAZA REGARDING RELEASE OF AMERICAN CHILDREN FROM PAKISTANI TALIBAN MADRASSA

(Atlanta, GA) - Imran Raza, the director and executive producer of the documentary "Karachi Kids" who discovered up to 80 American children in a Taliban-backed madrassa in Pakistan released the following statement regarding the return of two American children to Atlanta:

I am grateful for the safe return of the two American children from Atlanta from a Taliban- backed madrassa but the mullah claims to have up to 78 more in his institution. The headmaster comes to the United States once a year and personally recruits American children to enroll in his madrassa.

The remaining 78 children must be returned to the United States. This pipeline to jihad must be closed.

Let me be clear - these children do not learn math, or science, or liberal arts. They learn one thing - they memorize over the course of seven years every verse of the Koran coupled with the radical interpretation of their teachers.

This is just the first step in integrating these children back to American society. I am proud we did our part so we could say 'Welcome Home."

It is imperative that Members of Congress and the State Department undertake an accounting of just how many Americans are in the other 20,000 madrassas in Pakistan. Hundreds remain behind.

The Karachi Kids is a documentary about American children in the Jamia Binoria madrassa in Karachi Pakistan. A trailer of the film is available at www.karachikids.com.

Facts About the Binoria Madrassa

• Located in Karachi, Pakistan, the Jamia Binoria madrassa was founded by Mufti Muhammed Naeem and espouses Deobandism -- the religion of the Taliban.
• The institution houses over 3,000 students including children from the United States and Canada.
• Selig Harrison, the Director of the Asian Program for the Center for International Policy recently gave a speech reafng the link between the Jamia Binoria and the Taliban: "In Karachi, the Jamia Binoria, withsome 10,000 students enrolled in eight afted madrassas, displays a banner at its main gate urging Muslims to join the Taliban."
• A large number of graduates from the Binoria have become senior es in the Taliban.
• Right before 9/11, Osama bin Laden addressed the students emphasizing the importance of jihad.
• Mufti claims to have graduated over 100 Americans from his institution and asked what they teach the children, Mufti relied, "Islam, not math or anything else, only Islam."

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