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)