Authorities in Pakistan have found and freed around 50 students locked in a basement in a Karachi seminary. The students, aged four to 54, claim to have been held at the Madrassa Zakarya and forced to train as mujahideen militants.

Police officer Mukhtiar Khaskheli told AFP: "At least 18 of those chained are aged 20 or younger, while the rest are older."

Authorities also arrested at least one cleric, while others managed to escape, according to police information.

Khaskheli said madrassa officials explained the reason the captives had been chained was because “they were drug addicts and they wanted to rehabilitate them and make them better Muslims."

Nadeem Raoof, a police investigator, told dpa, "parents and relatives had enrolled the students for their reformation because some of them were drug addicts and some more were simply mentally ill…The seminary administration charged 5,000 rupees, around 57 US dollars, a month to each family."

Officially, around five percent of children in Pakistan attend one of the country’s many Islamic schools. But the number of unregistered pupils is believed to be much higher, as madrassas are often the only alternative for children from poor families to receive an education. Authorities are investigating the role Islamic seminaries play in recruiting new jihad fighters.

Author: Sarah Berning (dpa, AFP)
Editor: Gregg Benzow