A majority of Pakistanis are in favour of English language teaching being introduced into the country's madrasa schools, according to a recent survey carried out by Gallup Pakistan. The nationwide poll indicates that 59% of Pakistanis want the language to be taught as part of the schools' traditional Islamic curriculum, with 31% of respondents against.
But a government campaign to combat Islamic extremism that is seeking to bring madrasas under closer state control and to broaden the range of subjects they teach is unlikely to deliver effective change, critics say.
While madrasas came to be characterised in the west as a breeding ground for Islamic terrorism post 9/11, a decade on the US and other major aid donors say that reversing poor standards of education acrossPakistan's school system, and not just in madrasas, will have the most direct impact on inequality and social conditions that give rise to extremism.
However, attempts to improve the quality of teaching in madrasas appear to have stalled. The religious affairs ministry claims there are over 18,000 registered madrasas in Pakistan. But observers estimate that the actual number of schools could be as a high as 30,000.
According to the International Centre for Religion and Diplomacy, the US-based conflict-resolution charity, only 10% of madrasas complied with the government's voluntary registration programme launched in 2002.
Sardar Asif Ahmed Ali, a former education minister, said: "We were trying to introduce the madrasa reforms. Five madrasa federations had agreed to the establishment of a madrasa board under the ministry of education. They also agreed to introduce the general system of education, in vogue in Pakistan."
Ahmed Ali said that a madrasa reform bill was to be presented to parliament earlier this year but it had to be abandoned because of the devolution of authority to the provinces.
Some madrasas are modernising their syllabuses and have already introduced general subjects such as English, maths and computer studies. According to Tahir Ashrafi, chairman of the Pakistan Ulema Council, a moderate umbrella group for madrasas, 20% of schools are teaching other subjects in addition to Islamic education.
But a focus on including English language teaching in madrasa classrooms is being questioned by some observers, who say the language could be used as a double edged weapon – to help deradicalise on one hand, and to enhance the effectiveness of terrorists on the other.
Ejaz Haider, a journalist and security analyst, says that during the Pakistan military's offensive against the Taliban in the Afghan border region of Bajur in September 2008, he saw captured material and manuals used for bomb making, mine laying, booby traps and explosives.
"These manuals were in English, Pashto, Dari, Arabic, Urdu. In fact, far from running away from English or militating against it, radical groups have been embracing it. Take for example al-Qaida's online English language magazine Inspire," Haider said.
"Because of the assortment of foreigners of various nationalities, there is an increasing practical need that Islamist cadres learn English. They understand the power of the narrative."
At present the national de-radicalisation programme has been taken over by the ministry of interior and a period of consultation with the provinces has begun. But there is no visible effect or improvement, says Ashrafi.
"I was an adviser myself during President Musharraf's time and the truth is they don't take this issue seriously – nor then, nor now. It is all just to show the outside world. They may be getting funds from the west but nothing new is happening; attitudes have not changed."
On Tuesday, China exhorted the government to react properly to calls for change.
"We believe the Syrian government should respond to people's reasonable expectations and appeals, and resolve the issues through dialogue and consultations," Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin said.
Last week, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said his country wants an end to the bloodshed and is calling for the regime to implement changes, state-run RIA Novosti reported Friday.
"If the Syrian leadership is unable to complete such reforms, it will have to go, but this decision should be made not by NATO and certain European countries, it should be made by the people of Syria and the government of Syria," Medvedev told the Russian Security Council.
Many world powers have been outraged over the government's crackdown. The European Union and United States have already imposed sanctions against the regime.
The EU Monday demanded that al-Assad step aside, saying his government's crackdown on opposition demonstrations could amount to crimes against humanity.
CNN's Salma Abdelaziz, Jennifer Deaton and Amir Ahmed contributed to this story.
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