Madressahs not imparting terror training: Ijaz

03 May, 2007

Minister for Religious Affairs Ijazul Haq on Wednesday has denied the allegation made by British secret service M15 that Pakistani religious institutions are playing role of terrorist training camps, and said that Britain could not provide evidence to this effect even after 7/7.
Talking to BBC Radio he said, there is no such terrorist activity in any Madressah in the country. It might have taken place in Afghanistan under al Qaeda as Pak-Afghan border is porous and cross border movement easily takes place, he added. He said that similar allegations were made against the religious seminaries after 7/7 earlier but no proof was provided.
The minister said that government has evicted all the foreign students who were studying in seminaries, and has not been allowing any Madressah to admit foreign students since then. "We have made an agreement with the Madaris through their governing body that no Madressah would impart any militant training or teach any literature in this regard", he added.
Ijazul Haq said that they had completed the registration process and 98 percent of the Madaris have been registered so far. The government has complete details about the registered Madaris including the number of students, accounts, names and addresses of the teachers, he added.

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