New Delhi: Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Muhammad is indoctrinating young children into violent jihadism, a copy of the terrorist group’s children’s magazine Musalman Bacchey obtained by ThePrint, has revealed. The January issue of the magazine includes artwork by a child of an assault rifle, with the word “Jaish” emblazoned on it. The drawing also includes a flag of the internationally-banned organisation.
The magazine includes articles suggesting children can support jihadism without participating in armed violence.
One story in the magazine is centred around a character called Inam who hears of Israeli attacks on Palestinians.
“His anger was at peak”, but he had lost a leg in an accident, due to which he could not go on jihad. It had come to his knowledge, however, that it was not necessary to go to the battlefield and fight, the story continues. Through his poetry, Inam will raise the spirit of the people and talk about supporting the freedom fighters, it says, before concluding that “Jihad can also be done with a pen”.
Another article in the magazine, titled ‘Kafile Ki talaash’—or ‘in search of the caravan”—claims the idea of jihad has been misinterpreted to mean “all kinds of fighting and riots”. Instead, it suggests, the Jaish-e-Muhammad seeks a jihad “governed by the Quran and the sharia”, the Islamic holy book and law.
ThePrint had recently reported that the Jaish-e-Muhammad is expanding its massive Jama-e-Masjid Subhanallah and Sabir Madrasa in Bahawalpur. The seminaries are claimed by the organisation to be non-military institutions, dedicated to teaching children.
(Edited by Poulomi Banerjee)
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