Pakistani police rescue chained students
- 12 years ago
Police raided the basement of a Karachi madrassa to rescue 54 students --- many of whom were chained to the floor.
The young men cheered as the officers entered. Many said they were beaten and given just morsels of food each day.
SOUNDBITE: Unidentified young man saying (Urdu):
"They would tie us up and cane us 200 times. And that too, not with an ordinary cane, but a well-oiled and spiced cane."
The students -- ranged from young boys to men in their early 40s were kept 30 to a room.
Two clerics were arrested.
Anxious family members waited outside the police station as news of the raid made its way around the city.
Police said there were sere several drug addicts among the rescued --- likely sent to the madrassa to be rehabilitated. Many poor families also send their children to the schools which typically offer free boarding and the promise of a religious education.
Interior minister Rehman Malik:
SOUNDBITE: Interior minister Rehman Malik saying:
"Those 50 boys who have been kept like animals."
Some of the more extreme schools serve as a training ground for militant groups such as the Taliban and Al Qaeda.
Deborah Gembara, Reuters.
The young men cheered as the officers entered. Many said they were beaten and given just morsels of food each day.
SOUNDBITE: Unidentified young man saying (Urdu):
"They would tie us up and cane us 200 times. And that too, not with an ordinary cane, but a well-oiled and spiced cane."
The students -- ranged from young boys to men in their early 40s were kept 30 to a room.
Two clerics were arrested.
Anxious family members waited outside the police station as news of the raid made its way around the city.
Police said there were sere several drug addicts among the rescued --- likely sent to the madrassa to be rehabilitated. Many poor families also send their children to the schools which typically offer free boarding and the promise of a religious education.
Interior minister Rehman Malik:
SOUNDBITE: Interior minister Rehman Malik saying:
"Those 50 boys who have been kept like animals."
Some of the more extreme schools serve as a training ground for militant groups such as the Taliban and Al Qaeda.
Deborah Gembara, Reuters.