South Asia Studies Project

October 27, 2010 Special Dispatch No.3323 Taliban Set Up Training 'Schools' On Karachi Outskirts; Teen Says Taliban Trainer Convinced Him That 'Each And Every Organ Of Mine Will Be Offered in the Way Of God's Will – And As Soon As I Blow Myself Up, I Will Be in Heaven' The Taliban have set up "schools" on the outskirts of the city, where they deliver lectures and sermons in an attempt to persuade Pakistani teenagers to join their ranks, according to a Pakistani daily. A report quoted Mohammad Salaam, a 16-year-old would-be suicide bomber who was arrested yesterday, as confirming the existence of these terror training schools. Salaam, a ninth-grader at a school in Karachi's Sohrab Goth area, also had a meeting with Tehreek-e-Taliban (TTP) leader Zahir Shah at one of these schools, the report added. Karachi is Pakistan's largest commercial city. Shah convinced Salaam that Muslims across the world are being subjected to brutality, and that believers are supposed to respond in kind, the report said. "Zahir Shah said that becoming a suicide bomber was my ticket to heaven, and that on the Day of Judgment I would have nothing to worry about," Salaam said. The full text of this report is available to MEMRI's Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor Subscribers. Subscription information is available at this link. JTTM subscribers can visit this page to view the report.