The recovery of two boys, Muhammad Bhaktiar and his class mate Miraj Khan from a seminary of Islamist group Jamaat-ud-Dawa in remote Buner district of North West Frontier Province, has shown that militants have been eyeing public schools for recruiting suicide bombers.
"We were told by Sami-ul-Haq that after becoming suicide bombers their prime target would be President Pervez Musharraf," the two boys were quoted by The News in a Peshawar datelined story, 'How youngsters are being allured to become bombers'.
The seminary is run by Jamaat-ud-Dawa headed by Hafez Saeed, the founder leader of the banned Lashkar-e-Tayiba. The boys had gone missing from the school after the institution had allowed preachers to stay in the hostel and preach militant Islam and motivate students to opt for jihad. The link with "future Jihadis" - Bhaktiar and Miraj -- and Jamaat-ud-Dawa was established through Sami-ul-Haq, a resident of Rustum area of Mardan district who was a friend of the warden of the hostel, Muhammad Ghalib.
The two boys were permitted to leave the seminary in Muridke only after they were identified by their parents. They were brainwashed into believing that there was no need for educational qualification as they were destined to go to paradise.
The boys said they had spent five days at Dawa, but had not been imparted any military training. Dawa, which was kept under watch list by the Pakistan government, says it is an NGO involved in welfare activities.