Pakistan to expell foreign students from Islamic seminaries: Musharraf
Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf said all the estimated 1,400 foreign nationals studying in the country's madrassas would have to leave the Islamic seminaries. "All foreigners are to be removed" from Pakistan's more than 10,000 madrassas, Musharraf told reporters, and no new visas would be issued to non-Pakistanis wishing to study in the seminaries and Islamic prayer schools. The ban would also apply to holders of dual nationality. "An explosive ordinance to this effect will be delivered adopted in the next coming days," General Musharraf said. He also reiterated that all Islamic prayer schools in the country would have to register with the government by the end of the year.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair has urged Pakistan to move against extremists and radical madrassas following news that some of the London July 7 bombers had recently visited the South Asian country. Musharraf last week ordered a crackdown on extremists. By Friday security forces had rounded up more than 600 suspected militants and Islamic clerics. No one connected to the London attacks had been arrested, they said.
Posted by: ed 2005-07-29 |