January 31, 2002	Thursday	Ziqa’ad 16, 1422

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LAHORE, Jan 30: President Gen Pervez Musharraf on Wednesday urged the religious schools in the country to offer science subjects too to their students.

“I’m not critical of Madaris. I want the children to be educated in a way that they could be absorbed in the mainstream,” Musharraf told the teachers of two Madaris that he visited in Lahore.

It was the first public appearance of the President since he started a crackdown on Islamic extremists and militants in the wake of Sept 11 events and the US-led war on terrorism in Afghanistan.

Musharraf said the crackdown was meant to crush sectarian violence and religious extremism in Pakistan and to widen the horizon of the Madaris’ students by introducing them to natural sciences.

“Don’t impose your choice (of subjects) on them. Give them an option,” Musharraf told the teachers of the two big Madaris he visited in Lahore.

“Pakistan has been left behind in science and technology. We want to bridge this gap,” he said, differing with those who interpret the country’s Islamic ideology in a conservative way.—dpa