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| Pak madrassas still host 1,000 foreigners | | Non-Pakistani students to furnish surety bonds | |
B L KAK
NEW DELHI, OCT. 10: The United States is displeased by Islamabad's go-slow action in relation to the "provocative" presence of a large number of foreigners in Pakistan's Islamic schools. On finding Washington far from satisfied by Islamabad's handling of the situation, Pakistani authorites have just been reported to have informed the US administration that as many as 470 of the 1,500 foreign madrassa students have been deported.
The rest of the students, the US administration has been told, would be sent home if they failed to furnish surety bonds by their respective governments by the end of Ramadan. Pakistani authorities have even gone to the extent of saying that these students do not have extremist links and would not indulge in terrorism. Pakistan's Ministry of Interior has already sent letters to 50 countries through the Foreign Office seeking confirmation that the students were their nationals besides asking for the surety bonds on their behalf.
Reports from Pakistan say that in line with Gen. Parvez Musharraf's decision, not even a single foreign student wishing to study in a Pakistani seminary has been granted visa. Pakistani government, these reports insist, is only allowing those foreign students to stay in Pakistan who are in the middle of courses and want to complete their studies, but only if it was established that they are genuine students and are approved by their respective countries.
Most of the foreign students studying in Pakistani seminaries are from Indonesia, Bangladesh, China, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Tanzania and Sudan . Thousands of Afghans also study in Pakistani madrassas, but most of them are refugees and do not require no-objection certificates to continue their studies.
A major attraction of the Pakistani seminaries remains their high standard of religious education and provision of free courses, accommodation and meals. No one is certain about the exact number of seminaries operating in Pakistan. Government officials put the number at close to 11,000, but the religious parties claim there are around 30,000. Similarly, claims about the number of seminary students range from one million to three million.
The Bush Administration asked Pakistan to expel more than 1,000 foreign students in 500 religious seminaries in line with Gen. Musharraf's declaration in the aftermath of the 7/7 suicide attacks in London to oust all non-Pakistani students from the Islamic schools. Gen. Musharraf had to make this announcement under pressure from American and British authorities following the revelation that the London suicide attackers had visited Pakistan and attended seminaries in Punjab (Pakistan) before the blasts on July 7, 2005.
Yet, 15 months since the President's declaration, the fact remains that the Pakistani seminaries still host around 1,000 foreign students. The US demand for the expulsion of foreign students of madrassas came after the unearthing of the transatlantic bombing plot.
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