Forty-five students, among them young children, were discovered held in chains in a basement when police raided an Islamic seminary in Pakistan last night.
The male students, some said to be as young as 12 but appearing even younger, were found in what amounted to a dungeon at the Madrassa Zakarya in the Sohrab Goth district of Karachi.
Led barefoot from their prison, captives told officers they had suffered regular beatings and been hung upside down as a form of punishment.
Others said they had been visited by Taliban fighters and that 10 of their fellow students had disappeared in recent months.
One boy said that visiting Taliban members had told them to 'prepare for battle'. Some Pakistani madrassas have long been suspected of grooming Islamic militants.
Police arrested a cleric and two others at the scene, but the madrassa's administrator managed to escape during the raid, Pakistan's Express Tribune reported.
Sanaa TV, a local station, showed footage of the raid and the chained students, who danced and cried as police began to free them.
'We were kept in chains and hung upside down and beaten with sticks if we didn't comply. We were told that we would be given training to fight in Afghanistan,' one boy said.
Another told how Taliban fighters had visited the seminary, led prayers and told them to prepare for battle.
The raid came after an anonymous tip-off to authorities. Police official Mukhtiar Khaskheli told Agence France-Presse that a full investigation would probe any possible links with militants.
'The madrassa officials claim that they had chained those students because they were drug addicts and they wanted to rehabilitate them and make them better Muslims,' he added.
Freed: Young Pakistani students sit a room after being rescued following a police raid on Madrassa Zakarya in Karachi last night
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...seminary-thought-Taliban-training-centre.html
Uuuuhhhh, there must be some mistake here....I have it on HIGH authority that this is the religion of peace....what a lie!
The male students, some said to be as young as 12 but appearing even younger, were found in what amounted to a dungeon at the Madrassa Zakarya in the Sohrab Goth district of Karachi.
Led barefoot from their prison, captives told officers they had suffered regular beatings and been hung upside down as a form of punishment.
Others said they had been visited by Taliban fighters and that 10 of their fellow students had disappeared in recent months.
One boy said that visiting Taliban members had told them to 'prepare for battle'. Some Pakistani madrassas have long been suspected of grooming Islamic militants.
Police arrested a cleric and two others at the scene, but the madrassa's administrator managed to escape during the raid, Pakistan's Express Tribune reported.
Sanaa TV, a local station, showed footage of the raid and the chained students, who danced and cried as police began to free them.
'We were kept in chains and hung upside down and beaten with sticks if we didn't comply. We were told that we would be given training to fight in Afghanistan,' one boy said.
Another told how Taliban fighters had visited the seminary, led prayers and told them to prepare for battle.
The raid came after an anonymous tip-off to authorities. Police official Mukhtiar Khaskheli told Agence France-Presse that a full investigation would probe any possible links with militants.
'The madrassa officials claim that they had chained those students because they were drug addicts and they wanted to rehabilitate them and make them better Muslims,' he added.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...seminary-thought-Taliban-training-centre.html
Uuuuhhhh, there must be some mistake here....I have it on HIGH authority that this is the religion of peace....what a lie!
