{"id":14252,"date":"2025-04-23T23:47:55","date_gmt":"2025-04-23T21:47:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/janfigel.com\/?p=14252"},"modified":"2025-11-30T16:53:51","modified_gmt":"2025-11-30T15:53:51","slug":"eu-funds-islamist-indoctrination-in-pakistani-schools","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/janfigel.com\/sk\/2025\/04\/23\/eu-funds-islamist-indoctrination-in-pakistani-schools\/","title":{"rendered":"EU Funds Islamist Indoctrination in Pakistani Schools"},"content":{"rendered":"

The bloc has \u201clost its credibility as a commercial power guided by human values,\u201d human rights activist said.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Between 2016 and 2024, the European Union spent<\/a> upwards of \u20ac150 million on education in Pakistan, according to a 2024 report entitled Pakistan, Education System, Curriculum and EU Funding<\/em>, <\/em>authored <\/em>by Sallux\/ECPM (the European Christian Political Movement). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ECPM report contains<\/a> over 40 pages of excerpts and pictures from textbooks which show that the views expressed in Pakistan\u2019s official curriculum are not compatible with the EU values expressed in its Charter of Fundamental Rights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This misuse of EU taxpayers\u2019 money<\/a> was revealed at a gathering at the United Nations headquarters in Geneva during the recent 58th Session of the UN Human Rights Council. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The EU\u2019s Generalized Scheme of Preferences Plus<\/a> (GSP+) encourages developing countries (such as Pakistan) to pursue sustainable development and good governance. Eligible countries must implement 27 international conventions on \u201chuman rights, labor rights, the environment and good governance\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The EU is currently Pakistan\u2019s second most important trading partner as, two years ago, it accounted for 15.3% of Pakistan\u2019s total trade. Pakistan is a major beneficiary<\/a> of the trading opportunities offered by the EU\u2019s GSP<\/a>. Since January 1, 2014, Pakistan has benefited from generous tariff preferences (mostly zero duties on two-thirds of all product categories) under the so-called GSP+ arrangement. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The event at UN headquarters, titled \u201cHuman Rights in Pakistan: Education Under Siege\u2014Ideology, Intolerance, and the Erosion of Human Rights in Pakistan,\u201d spotlighted<\/a> the country\u2019s Islamic extremist education system and its escalating human rights abuses. It was organized by CAP Freedom of Conscience, a French NGO with special consultative status to the UN, Human Rights Without Frontiers (HRWF), and Global Human Rights Defense (GHRD).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Former EU Commissioner J\u00e1n Fige\u013e, also the first EU Special Envoy for the Promotion of Freedom of Religion or Relief outside the EU, said in his keynote address that \u201cPakistan\u2019s constitutional and penal structures\u2014particularly the blasphemy laws\u2014are uniquely harsh and foster widespread discrimination.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fige\u013e cited a case where Pakistani Islamic clerics forced<\/a> a college professor, Sher Ali, to publicly renounce teaching a number of beliefs and ideas as against Islamic law. One such idea was Charles Darwin\u2019s theory of evolution. In 2022, Ali\u2019s car was attacked<\/a> with a magnetic bomb, leaving him in a wheelchair for months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPakistan is the largest beneficiary of GSP+ preferences, yet there has been little improvement in human rights,\u201d he said. \u201c The EU must reassess the cost of this silence.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His call was backed by Willy Fautr\u00e9, Director of Human Rights Without Frontiers. \u201cThis is not education\u2014it is ideological coercion,\u201d Fautr\u00e9 said<\/a>. \u201cThe EU\u2019s credibility is at stake. If Europe is to remain a human rights actor, it must ensure that public funds do not enable the erosion of pluralism and academic freedom.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fautr\u00e9 noted<\/a>: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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By accepting de facto this situation and by failing to sanction Pakistan\u2019s non-implementation of the GSP+, the EU has misused the money of the EU taxpayers and has lost its credibility as a commercial power guided by human values.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Fautr\u00e9 listed<\/a> some of the \u201cpersistent egregious human rights violations that have remained unchanged for 10 years,\u201d including the fabrication of blasphemy cases against Christians, Ahmadis, and other religious minorities;  acts of violence and mob violence against members of minority religious communities; and the persistence of madrassah religious schools, beacons of indoctrination and extremism, which are out of control of the state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Akey topic addressed by speakers was the \u2018Single National Curriculum (SNC),\u2019\u201d which was introduced in 2020 in Pakistani state schools. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c[The curriculum] drew strong criticisms from education experts and human rights defenders for its lack of inclusivity, the over-emphasis on Islamic religious content at the expense of religious minorities, the subliminal ideology of Islamic supremacy and poor pedagogy,\u201d Fautr\u00e9 noted<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The human rights organization Open Doors also referred in its 2024 report<\/a> to Pakistan\u2019s \u201cincreasingly Islamizing culture\u201d and educational system:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The introduction of a \u2018Single National Curriculum\u2019 in schools denigrates religious minorities and enforces the teaching of the Quran and subjects like Mathematics and Science in an Islamized manner. Thus, religion is permeating school education, dividing children and families. Radical Islamic groups are flourishing \u2026 and are used by various political groups as allies. <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Inna Chefranova, Executive Director of the <\/strong>European Facilitation Platform,  addressed<\/a> the plight of girls from religious minorities who are subjected to abductions, forced conversion, and forced \u2019marriage.\u2019 She cited the case<\/a> of a 13-year-old Catholic girl, Arzoo Raja, who was abducted, converted to Islam, and forcibly married to an older man in 2020, illustrating the consequences of Pakistan\u2019s judiciary and education system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe EU cannot continue to provide GSP+ privileges while systemic abuse persists. Monitoring without enforcement fails victims,\u201d Chefranova said<\/a>. \u201cEducation should be a tool of inclusion, not indoctrination. Until reforms are implemented, support should be conditional on measurable progress.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A recorded message from MEP Bert-Jan Ruissen, Co-Chair of the EU Intergroup on Freedom of Religion or Belief, was also shared during the event. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe fund education in Pakistan, yet we disavow responsibility for what that education teaches. That is unacceptable,\u201d Ruissen noted. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A 2024 inquiry<\/a> made by Ruissen to the European Commission <\/strong>confirmed<\/a> that EU taxpayers\u2019 money had been provided to \u201creligious seminaries\u201d in Pakistan. Referring to the inquiry, Ruissen called for parliamentary action. He noted that \u201cthe EU must integrate these concerns into the upcoming GSP+ review. We cannot subsidize hate and exclusion.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a result, the EU enables a discriminatory and extremist curriculum which leads to the further Islamization of the Pakistani population. The EU is also supporting the oppression of everyone in the country who is not an Islamist, an abusive culture that is transported to Europe through mass migration. Sadly, it appears that the EU has\u2014to a certain extent\u2014become an enabler of Islamization in both the Old Continent and overseas. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Uzay Bulut<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

europeanconservative.com<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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EU Funds Islamist Indoctrination in Pakistani Schools<\/a><\/blockquote>