Sri Lankan students studying in Pakistani seminaries have been repatriated to their home country, Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao, the interior minister, told Daily Times on Monday. The minister said the government had begun implementing President General Pervez Musharrafâs orders to expel all foreign students studying in Pakistani seminaries and denied reports that the process had been delayed till September to give these students a chance to finish their exams. Sherpao would not say how many students had been deported so far or how long the process would take. âWe have not fixed any deadline to complete the repatriation, but the process has started,â he said. According to an Interior Ministry estimate, there are some 1,400 foreign students studying in Pakistani seminaries. Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, the Pakistan Muslim League (PML) president, is known to oppose the decision and recently asked the government to allow the foreign students to appear in exams next month. Sources said the federal government had not yet made a decision on his request. The central secretary of the Ittehad Tanzeematul Madaris Diniya (ITMD), a grouping of seminaries and wafaqs, told Online on Monday that the government had agreed to postpone the expulsion of foreign students until September in view of their annual exams next month. âThe decision has been made on the pleas of seminaries and their foreign students. They will not be expelled until their annual exams end,â said Qari Hanif Jalandhari. However, Sherapo denied that the government had delayed its decision to expel foreign students.