The
Government will not review its decision about extradition
of foreigners studying in different seminaries of
the country, Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan
Sherpao said in Islamabad on December 29. Sherpao
told The News that the Government had set
no deadline for extradition of foreign students
but they would have to leave the country in any
case. "The decision was taken after a lot of consideration
and we have no plan to review it," he said.
The
minister, however, said that no visa of any foreign
student was cancelled, as the Government wanted
them to leave the country voluntarily. About the
number of foreign students at seminaries, he disclosed
that 633 out of 988 foreign students who were studying
in seminaries had left Pakistan. "We have also asked
the provinces to send their reports in this connection,"
he added. He clarified that December 31 deadline
was set for registration of religious schools with
the Government.
Meanwhile,
a majority of religious schools have vowed to resist
the Government's decision of expelling foreign students.
"We do not accept government's policy against foreign
students and demand it to review its decision,"
said Mohammad Hanif Jallandari, head of Ittehad-e-Tanzeematul
Madaris, the apex body of seminaries. Jallandari
said that a grand convention of all the religious
schools has been convened in Islamabad on January
1 to chalk out future plan of action against the
Government's policy. |
