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Pak to close down madrasas

Pak to close down madrasas

Author:
Publication: The Times of India - Internet Edition
Date: December 1, 2001
URL: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow.asp?art_id=1856307798

Islamabad: The Pakistan government has decided to close down religious seminaries or madrasas in the country providing military training to their students.

The decision was taken at the highest level and ministry of religious affairs and all provincial governments have been informed in this regard.

But there was no official announcement on this issue.

A list of religious seminaries having extremist views and providing military training has been prepared, Urdu newspaper Jang said here Thursday.

In october this year, the government, under pressure from the international community to launch a crackdown on the madrasas following the September 11 terrorist attacks, announced steps to streamline the activities and the education system.

According to estimates, Pakistan has 25,000 to 35,000 big and small privately run Islamic seminaries devoted exclusively to Islamic education. Most of the seminaries were run with funds from Saudi Arabia and were popular with the children of low income families as they offered free food and accodation.

A number of leaders of the Taliban studied in these madrasas which taught fundamentalist ideologies.

(PTI)
 


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