No Maldivians In Our Madrassas: Pakistan ~ Make My Trip Advisor

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Minggu, 07 Oktober 2007

No Maldivians In Our Madrassas: Pakistan

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By Ajay Makan, Minivan News
October 7, 2007

The Pakistani Government has denied claims Maldivians are travelling to Pakistan for radical religious training.

The September 29 explosion in Malé has focused attention on Islamic extremism in the Maldives, with growing anxiety about how many Maldivians have joined the “caravan” to Pakistan and Afghanistan.

But Pakistan’s High Commission in Malé has told Minivan News, “It is 100% untrue to say Maldivians are coming to Pakistan to study in radical madrassas. Its not possible for them to do so.”

Pakistan is home to several religious schools, while its porous border with Afghanistan has long been a magnet for Muslims looking to join the Taleban.

Saeed Ahmed, owner of Malé's radical Zeeniya Manzil mosque, which was closed this week by police investigating the Malé bomb, is believed to have left for Pakistan earlier this year. A Maldivian named Ibrahim Fauzee is said to have confessed connections to Al Qaeda after being detained in Pakistan

But the Pakistani High Commission insists rigorous visa checks mean it is impossible for Maldivians to enter Pakistan for religious training.

“There are less than one hundred Maldivians in Pakistan right now,” according to Dr Jamaluddin, second secretary at the Pakistan High Commission in Malé.

“Most of those are at medical college or another kind of professional education. Or they are police officers receiving training. We only issue visas when there are recommendations from the government here, and confirmation from the colleges in Pakistan.”

The Foreign Ministry has refused to comment officially on travel restrictions for Maldivians in Pakistan, and Ambassador of State Aziz said, “we as a ministry do not keep records of people travelling abroad.”

But a Foreign Ministry source said the governments of the two countries had indeed agreed, “several years ago,” to only issue study visas for Maldivians who produced “letters of enrolment for bona fide universities, excluding religious schools.”

But visa restrictions do not appear to have solved the problem. The Government is now concerned about Maldivians using India or Bangladesh, where entry restrictions are more lax, as staging posts for Pakistan.