ISLAMABAD, 30 July 2005 — Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf yesterday said all the estimated 1,400 foreign nationals studying in the country’s madrasas would have to leave.
“All foreigners are to be removed” from Pakistan’s more than 10,000 Qur’anic schools, said Musharraf, and no new visas would be issued to non-Pakistanis wishing to study in the seminaries and prayer schools.
The ban would also apply to holders of dual nationality.
“An ordinance to this effect will be adopted in the coming days,” Gen. Musharraf said, as part of new rules requiring all seminaries to register with the government by the end of the year.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair has urged Pakistan to move against extremists and madrasas following news that some of the London July 7 bombers had recently visited the South Asian country.
Musharraf, who was speaking to the foreign media at his residence in the garrison city of Rawalpindi, vowed to continue a crackdown on hard-liners he ordered last week, in which security forces said they had rounded up more than 600 suspected militants and clerics.
“Till now there is no suspect arrested” directly related to the London bombings, Musharraf said. “The investigation is going on. It’s a little premature to draw a conclusion. It’s a very tedious job.”
The president, who has banned 10 extremist groups, said the raids had aimed not at rounding up large numbers of people but at catching the leaders of the radical groups. “I don’t want to arrest the workers,” he told a group of foreign correspondents. “I want the leaders of the banned groups. I’m not impressed by figures. We want to get all of the bigwigs.”
Musharraf also pledged to enforce a ban on anti-Western hate speeches being spread from mosque’s loudspeakers or through audio recordings.
Asked about the seriousness of the arrest campaign, Musharraf said: “I have never done anything not seriously. I don’t bluff. I do act with realism. I am realistic, not idealistic. I am very, extremely serious.”
US President George W. Bush phoned Musharraf on Thursday to discuss the “war on terrorism” and regional issues, said White House spokesman Scott McClellan without giving further details.
Musharraf tried to ease Indian concerns over reports that militant camps were reopening on Pakistan’s side of the cease-fire line dividing the disputed territory of Kashmir. He said the peace process begun by South Asia’s nuclear rivals at the start of 2004 would continue to move forward.
“There is no doubt in my mind that the peace process will continue,” Musharraf said. “Now about the (militant) training camps... Let me assure you that the situation is on the mend. It will only improve in every sphere of activity.” A Pakistani current affairs magazine “The Herald” raised eyebrows with its July edition cover story titled “Back to Camp,” describing how militant organizations had reopened camps on Pakistan’s side of the Kashmir cease-fire line.
