News
Foreign religious schools students start leaving Pakistan
ISLAMABAD, August 10 : Two Nepali students of madrassa, left for their country on Wednesday after President Musharraf has ordered that all foreign students in seminaries should leave the country, reports said.
Muhammad Ali,21 and Ms Shagufta,19, who were studying in a Lahore religious school, crossed into India though Wahga border for onward journey to their country, a private television reported.
It was the first group of foreign students of Islamic schools to leave Pakistan since General Musharraf’s announcement on July 29 that some 1,400 foreign pupils at madrassas must leave the country.
Madrassas have been in the spotlight after one of the London bombers was reported to have studied at one.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair called on Pakistan to curb extremists and radical madrassas in the wake of the London bombings of 7 July.
An ordinance would be adopted "in the coming days" to ban foreigners from studying in Pakistan religious schools.
The report said that both the Nepali students were earlier stopped by the immigration authorities at the Wahga border when they arrived there at 11 a.m. local time as their visas were expired.
The students told the authorities that they had applied for visa extension in Pakistan Foreign Ministry but their visas were not extended.
The students were later allowed to cross the border after high up in Islamabad gave green signals, the report said.
It is estimated that there are around 20,000 madrassas in Pakistan.
According to reports there are around 1.7m students at the institutions, mainly from poor rural families.
Islamic opposition groups, students and religious schools have reacted angrily to the government move.
On Sunday, Maulana Fazal ur Rehman, Secretary General of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal, that holds power in North West Frontier Province, denounced the student move as "inhuman". He vowed to strongly oppose the move and to stage protest rallies.
But the government is determined to go ahead with the plan.
Interior Minister Aftab Sherpao said some U.S, British and other European are also studying in Pakistan religious schools.