Police raided the basement of a Karachi madrassa to rescue 54 students --- many of whom were chained to the floor.<br/> The young men cheered as the officers entered. Many said they were beaten and given just morsels of food each day.<br/> SOUNDBITE: Unidentified young man saying (Urdu):<br/> "They would tie us up and cane us 200 times. And that too, not with an ordinary cane, but a well-oiled and spiced cane."<br/> The students -- ranged from young boys to men in their early 40s were kept 30 to a room.<br/> Two clerics were arrested.<br/> Anxious family members waited outside the police station as news of the raid made its way around the city.<br/> Police said there were sere several drug addicts among the rescued --- likely sent to the madrassa to be rehabilitated. Many poor families also send their children to the schools which typically offer free boarding and the promise of a religious education.<br/> Interior minister Rehman Malik:<br/> SOUNDBITE: Interior minister Rehman Malik saying:<br/> "Those 50 boys who have been kept like animals."<br/> Some of the more extreme schools serve as a training ground for militant groups such as the Taliban and Al Qaeda.<br/> Deborah Gembara, Reuters.
