Posted on 08/09/2006 4:13:09 AM PDT by Republicain
ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistan will expel around 300 foreign students from Islamic seminaries in the country if they failed to get permission from their governments to stay, a senior official said on Tuesday.
The move is part of a drive to counter religious extremism and terrorism launched by President Pervez Musharraf in the wake of the July 7, 2005 attacks in London when at least one of the suicide bombers was believed to have spent time at a Pakistani madrasa.
Syed Kamal Shah, permanent secretary at the Interior Ministry, said 600 to 700 foreign students were currently enrolled with seminaries or madrasas across the country.
"Fifty percent of them have already got permissions from their governments," he told a news conference.
"We will expel (the remaining) if their governments don't give them No Objection Certificates for their stay," he said.
(Excerpt) Read more at today.reuters.co.uk ...
300 down, now just 2,999,700 to go.
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