Karachi, Sept 08: Foreign students are leaving Pakistan's madrassas in droves for fear of arrest under the government crack-down against Islamic extremism, a seminary official said. "Pakistan is no longer a safe place for foreign students studying in our (Islamic seminaries)," Mufti Mohammad Jamil, spokesman for the federation of madrassas told news agencies.
"About 500 have already moved to South Africa in a year, others are also planning to pack their bags."

The students, most of whom hail from Arab and African nations, were reluctant to leave Pakistan but feared they could be arrested in the name of al-Qaeda, Jamil said.
"They used to feel Pakistan was their second home, but not anymore," said Jamil.

"Pakistan now looks like an American colony."

There are around 10,000 religious schools registered with Wifaq-ul-Madaris Central Board of Seminaries, which prepares syllabi and holds examinations, but another 10,000 are thought to run independently in rural and remote tribal areas -- particularly along the Afghan border.

Islamic clerics say thousands of foreign nationals from Muslim countries annually seek admission to the seminaries in Pakistan but have been denied visas under strict policies by the government of President Pervez Musharraf, which considers the madrassas laboratories for Islamic extremism.

Bureau Report