Foreign students are leaving Pakistan's Islamic seminaries, known as madrassas, in droves for fear of arrest under the government crackdown against Islamic extremism, a seminary official said.
| Somehow, I doubt they're going to go under any time soon... |
"Pakistan is no longer a safe place for foreign students studying in our madrassas," said Mufti Mohammed Jamil, spokesman for the Federation of Madrassas. "About 500 have already moved to South Africa in a year. Others are also planning to pack their bags."
| Welcome to the next Islamic hellhole... |
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, Mr. Jamil said. "They used to feel Pakistan was their second home, but not anymore," he said. "Pakistan now looks like an American colony."
| "You can see it in the number of red-white-and-blue turbans on the streets..." |
There are around 10,000 religious schools registered with the 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. |