Pakistan says 800
held in wake of
London bombings
that killed 49 and
injured 100 people

Pakistani authorities say 800 suspected militants have been arrested in raids following the deadly London bombings, as Islamic groups protest a move to expel 1,400 foreign students.

After Friday prayers, police arrested 200 more preachers and prayer leaders for allegedly inciting anti-Western and sectarian hatred in their sermons, a government official said.

The latest arrests came as president pervez 'muSheriff' ordered foreigners or holders of dual citizenship to be expelled from Pakistan's madrassas, or Islamic seminaries, sparking anger among Islamic groups.

Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao said authorities were checking the foreign students' visas and would cancel those still valid in order to repatriate them to their home countries.

"There are 1,400 foreign students in the Islamic seminaries in Pakistan and we have decided to send all of them back to their countries," Mr Sherpao said.

"We have decided to repatriate them because we don't want to see our country defamed if any of these students are found involved in any terrorist activities in future."

Dismay

Foreign madrassa students and Islamic leaders voiced dismay at the order.

"Everybody has a right to get knowledge," said Abdul Samad of Britain, one of about 100 foreigners enrolled in Karachi.

"We come here to learn the Koran and not extremism or terrorism."

Liaqat Baluch, deputy parliamentary leader of the six-party religious alliance the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal, said, "It is an undemocratic and unconstitutional decision by a leader who has no political support."

"[MuSheriff] is taking such cosmetic decisions to please the West and perpetuate his rule. There is nothing in our constitution which bars foreign students from getting Islamic education in Pakistan.

"This decision will defame Pakistan and hurt our relations with other Muslim countries," he said.

"Denying anyone the right to education is sheer ignorance."

Defamation claim

general 'muSheriff' later said fundamentalists were defaming him and stressed he was a "true Muslim" as he addressed a crowd of thousands in Mingora, in the staunchly Islamic north-west Frontier Province bordering Afghanistan.

"Do not believe what they say about me," said the president, who was wearing traditional white shalwar-kameez garments.

"They are painting a negative picture about me among you people."

Raids

General 'muSheriff' also pledged to continue the raids, register Pakistan's more than 10,000 seminaries and enforce a ban on anti-Western sermons in his crackdown on Pakistan's radical Islamic underground.

Britain has urged Pakistan to move against radical madrassas after news that some of the British suicide-bombers had previously visited Pakistan and that one may have studied in a madrassa there.

general 'muSheriff' said no-one linked to the July 7 attacks had been arrested?

"The investigation is going on," he said. "It's a little premature to draw a conclusion. It's a very tedious job."

What, deciding who is a witch?

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