ISLAMABAD, 1 January 2006 — Islamists ruling a Pakistani province yesterday refused to obey a government order to expel foreign students enrolled in Islamic schools.
President Pervez Musharraf ordered all foreigners studying at the schools, known as madrasas, to leave by Dec. 31 as part of a drive to stamp out terrorism and religious extremism following the July 7 London transport bombings this year.
His order came after revelations that at least one of the four London bombers — three of whom were Britons of Pakistani descent — had spent time at a madrasa.
Officials have said that around 700 foreign students, out of a total of 1,400, have since left and madrasas have stopped enrolling more foreign students. But hundreds remain.
Amanullah Haqqani, religious affairs minister in the conservative North West Frontier Province, said the provincial authorities would not expel any foreign students.
A majority of the foreign students, most of them Afghans, are studying in NWFP.
“As far as we are concerned, we have no deadline, or any plan to expel them,” Haqqani told Reuters.
“Secondly, we want the federal government to review its decision as it is a matter of pride for Pakistan to impart religious education to foreign students.”
Authorities in Islamabad have eased the demand that foreign students leave by Dec. 31, noting they may face administrative delays, but want them to go as soon as possible.
On Friday, Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao said more than 65 percent of foreign madrasa students had left the country since the government announced its decision.
The government may extend the deadline for the registration of Islamic seminaries, which was to expire yesterday, a media report said yesterday. “The government will extend the deadline following a formal request from the Ittehad Tanzimat Madaris Deeniya (ITMD), an umbrella organization representing all madarasas the English-language Daily Times quoted Vakil Ahmed Khan, a Religious Affairs Ministry official, as saying.
Registration of seminaries and expulsion of foreign students became explosive issues after most of the schools — supported by the religio-political alliance, the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) — declined to submit to what they called “intrusive registration procedures”.
The registration process requires the seminaries to reveal their sources of financing, be ready for annual audits, and refrain from what they call preaching hate.
Analysts said the government had softened its stance on expelling foreign students because of hiccups in implementation.
“The government had taken the decision under international pressure, and all this seems to be disorganized and hurriedly done,” said Mutahir Ahmad, assistant professor of International Relations at the University of Karachi.
“There has been wide opposition to the government’s decision, especially in NWFP. Plus, the public sentiment is not the same as it was in 2001, after the 9/11 events,” he added.
Pakistan has about 12,000 madrasas, which provide education, shelter and food to boys from poor families. Some are suspected of being breeding grounds for militants.
The number of foreign students at madrasas fell sharply after Pakistan imposed tougher visa rules following the Sept. 11 attacks in the United States.
The country saw a spectacular rise in the number of madrasas in the 1980s, when the schools, backed by funding from the West and Arab countries, became recruiting grounds for Islamic volunteers fighting Soviet forces in neighboring Afghanistan.
