Madrassa foreigners 'must leave'

[emad]

Madrassa foreigners 'must leave'

Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf says all foreign students, some 1,400 pupils, must leave the country's religious schools, or madrassas.

Most foreign students' visas are invalid if they cease to study at the madrassa they applied to.

This is the latest in a series of measures Gen Musharraf has announced in a renewed clampdown on extremism.

Madrassas have been in the spotlight after one of the London bombers was reported to have studied at one.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/4728643.stm

[Pert_UK]

1. "All foreign students must leave Pakistan's religious schools"

Not to Mods - this is the headline on the BBC website, but when you click the link to the story it becomes: "Madrassa foreigners 'must leave'", which is less intuitive.

"Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf says all foreign students at madrassas, or religious schools, some 1,400 pupils, must leave the country.

"Any in the madrassas - even dual nationality holders - will leave Pakistan," Gen Musharraf said.

This is the latest in a series of measures the president has announced in a renewed clampdown on extremism.

Madrassas have been in the spotlight after one of the London bombers was reported to have studied at one. "

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/4728643.stm

I'm not sure how I feel about this.....I kinda reckon they're taking a sledgehammer to crack a nut, and undermining religious freedoms....

On the other hand, many of these schools are unregulated hotbeds of extremism.

[geek tragedy]

2. The Global Struggle against Violent Extremism. TM

[Village Idiot]

4. You mean the War on Islam?

[xchrom]

6. nah -- cause i'd shut down bob jones u. in a heart beat.

in the hands of facists, religous loons, corporations -- free speech is of limited value.

sometimes i think you can only have a real conversation or meaningful exchange with progressives.

[Swede]

3. This may be a step in ending the extremism.

Although it is a small step.

[LondonAmerican]

5. Excellent news

but many of the worst madrassas are fully outside any government control and haven't been affected by prior government actions.

I'm hoping that Musharraf is more successful this time. Good decision!

[hel]

7. Not as unwise as it sounds.

Teaching children nothing but religion for years and years can't be good, no matter what the religion is. Madrasas serve no purpose other than breeding a new generation of fundamentalists.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

8. Because the foreign students aren't as radical as the Pakistanis?