- Title: PAKISTAN: Pakistan madrasas vow to resist expulsion of foreign students
- Date: 31st December 2005
- Summary: KARACHI (DECEMBER 31, 2005) (REUTERS) LEADING MADRASA CLERICS ARRIVING AND SITTING FOR NEWS CONFERENCE OTHER CLERICS SITTING AT NEWS CONFERENCE JOURNALISTS VARIOUS OF CLERICS AT NEWS CONFERENCE (2 SHOTS) (SOUNDBITE) (Urdu) MOHAMMAD HANIF JALANDHARY, A SENIOR CLERIC OF THE ITTEHAD-E-TANZEEMUL MADARIS, AN ALLIANCE OF ISLAMIC SCHOOL, SAYING: "If the government does not take i
- Embargoed: 15th January 2006 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Pakistan
- Country: Pakistan
- Topics: Religion
- Reuters ID: LVA1OMUUSWPB2PVWWG7SKJZ9U7ZF
- Story Text: Islamic seminaries in Pakistan reiterated on Saturday (December 31) to resist a government move to expel all foreign students by the end of the year, while the government has said there would be no extension of the deadline.
The seminaries had vowed on Thursday to resist the government move to expel foreign students.
President Pervez Musharraf has ordered all foreigners studying at the religious schools, known as madrasas, to leave by December 31 as part of a drive to stamp out terrorism and religious extremism following the July 7 London bombings.
Mohammad Hanif Jallandari, a senior cleric of the Ittehad-e-Tanzeemaul Madaris, an alliance of Islamic schools, said countrywide protests would be launched if the government did not meet their demands.
"If the government does not take it serious then we can launch countrywide protest. We, once again demand Supreme Court to take notice of this (issue),"Jalandhary told a news conference in the southern city of Karachi.
He said Ittehad-e-Tanzeemaul Madaris (the Alliance of Organisations of Religious Schools) would meet in Islamabad on Saturday to draw up a plan for future action. He said it had no intention of expelling foreign students.
He said Vifaaq ul Madaris al Arabia, an alliance of Islamic schools, would also hold a convention in the capital Islamabad on January 1, 2006.
Jalandhary said that around 700 foreign students, out of a total of 1,400, had left Pakistan after the government's order.
He said madrasas were also not enrolling any more foreign students, but would not respect the deadline.
"We demand government to immediately announce withdrawal of the deadline of December 31. We demand the government to withdraw the decision of expulsion of foreign students and issue visas for new foreign students. If the government has any reservations it should resolve the matter through dialogue like registration issue," he said.
Three of the London suicide bombers were Britons of Pakistani descent and Pakistan issued the expulsion order after revelations that at least one had visited a madrasa in the country.
Pakistan has about 12,000 madrasas, most of which provide education, shelter and food to boys from poor families. Some are also suspected of being breeding grounds for Islamist militants.
Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao told Reuters on Thursday that 65 percent of foreign madrasa students had already left the country and the government would not extend its deadline.
However, Jalandhary said it was a discriminatory policy and violation of human rights.
"The decision of expulsion of foreign students is unlawful, unconstitutional, unethical and unIslamic. It is against the dignity and interests of Pakistan. It is anti-knowledge, its in violation of basic human rights and it is against the United Nations' charter," he said.
The number of foreign students at madrasas fell sharply after Pakistan imposed tougher visa rules after joining the U.S.-led war on terrorism following the September 11 attacks in 2001.
The country saw a spectacular rise in the number of madrasas in the 1980s, when the schools, backed by funding from the West and Arab countries, became recruiting grounds for Islamic volunteers fighting Soviet forces in neighbouring Afghanistan.
Some madrasas also supplied recruits for Afghanistan's Taliban regime toppled by U.S.-led forces in late 2001 for sheltering al Qaeda militants, including September 11 mastermind Osama bin Laden. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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