Relax. That was a rhetorical question. After the July 7th bombings in London, the Pakistani government was “persuaded” to adopt a policy that denies entry to all foreign students who wish to enroll in its madrasas. That decision however, does not include expeling current foreign students (including western students). For those people that don’t know, many of Pakistan’s madrasas are where future terrorists learn Islamofacism 101. They are analogous to the stagnant ponds that result in a swarm of deadly mosquitos flying forth. However, many of Pakistan’s clerics don’t like this new policy. Why? Free-market principles result in those foreign students that are denied entry to Pakistan, heading across the border for schooling in India. Mid-day.com reports:

This seems to be a classic case of neighbour’s envy. Muslim clerics in Pakistan are miffed over its government’s recent decision which denies entry to foreign students coming to Pakistan’s seminaries, better known as madrasas, for training. What has particularly irked the clerics is that these students are now looking across the border and enrolling themselves in Indian madrasas for their religious training.

“Denying entry to foreign students in our seminaries and allowing them to get admissions in Indian seminaries will certainly improve India’s overall image in the Muslim world at the cost of Pakistan’s reputation,” says Hanif Jalandhari, head of the Wafaq-ul-Madaris al-Arabia, largest among the five Wafaq boards that have sole control of over 9,000 seminaries across Pakistan.

That quote would be funny if that cleric wasn’t serious. Is he actually suggesting that Pakistan’s madrasas have a good reputation? I honestly have no idea how India’s madrasas compare, but they MUST compare favorably. Some foreign students currently enrolled in the madrasas believe that the Pakistani government will relax its rules once international attention on the London bombings fades. Some of these students are simply extending their Visas, betting on a reversal.

Sources say that the government has received hundreds of applications from foreign students for extension of their stay in Pakistan. However, in the case of fresh admissions, there has been a marked decline in the number of foreign students who have enrolled this year.

Mufti Mohammad Naeem, head of Jamia Binoria, one of the largest seminaries in Pakistan, which has over a dozen branches in the country, with over ten thousands students enrolled, has this to say, “None of the former or currently enrolled foreign students have anything to do with terrorist related activities.”

Sure.

In Sep 2003, Pakistani intelligence agencies had arrested six Indonesian and 13 Malaysian students from two Salafi seminaries and from Abu Bakar University.

One of the arrested students was Rusman Gunawan, brother of Hambali, leader of Indonesian Jemaah Islamiyah, which allegedly has relations with Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda. Last year, the university had admitted 103 foreign students.