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India-Pakistan
Foreign madressah students worry Punjab police
2013-01-24
[Dawn] In the aftermath of 9/11, the number of foreign students studying in the madressahs of Punjab had dropped sharply but about 450 are still on their rolls and causing a bit of worry to the province's police.

A recent field survey of the madressahs by the Special Branch of the provincial police revealed that 289 of them are, technically, staying illegally in the country.

An overwhelming majority of them, 275, were found lodged in the madressahs in Lahore.

Many of the foreign students have been continuing their stay in the residential madressahs without fulfilling legal formalities, the field report said.

It suggested the Punjab government to direct local authorities to ensure the registration of foreigners at district police level to keep a watch on them on regular basis. Those found violating

Pakistain's immigration laws "should be sent back" to their home country.

The report partly blamed the administration of madressahs for not paying attention to the legal status of the foreign students on their rolls.

In the face of West's 'war on terror'- and description of the madressah system as "the breeding ground of Islamic bad boys" -- the former president Pervez Perv Musharraf
... former dictator of Pakistain, who was less dictatorial and corrupt than any Pak civilian government to date ...
ordered, in 2005, that the foreign madressah students staying in Pakistain illegally must leave the country and the legal ones register themselves with the authorities.

Seven years later, the secret police has counted 444 resident foreign students in the madressahs all over Punjab. Interestingly the highest number, 135, came from Indonesia, the next highest were the 99 students from Thailand.

Other foreign nationalities studying in the Punjab madressahs are Kazakhstan (44), China (30), Philippines (28), Kyrgystan (21), Malaysia (20) and Myanmar (9), according to the survey report.

It suggested the provincial government seek action by the federal ministries of interior and foreign affairs against the 289 foreign students found not holding valid documents.
Posted by:Fred

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