KARACHI: Held students had valid documents, says varsity
By Our Staff Reporter
KARACHI, Sept 25: The arrested Malaysian and Indonesian students of the two Islamic institutions were not involved in any criminal activity and they were holding valid student visas and other required documents.
Giving details of the arrested students, the management of the Abu Bakr Islamic University said the authorities had picked up Gun Gun Rusman Gunawan bin Ishomuddin on Sept 1. “We did not know that he was the brother of Hambali”.
They said the authorities had picked up five students, including Gun Gun Rusman. However, later they released four of them and detained Rusman.
According to the record available with the Abu Bakr Islamic University, Gun Gun Rusman entered Pakistan on Nov 29, 1999. He was issued the passport No. K410843 by the Indonesian Consulate in Karachi. He obtained study visa No. 1119/2003 on March 5, this year and it was valid up to March 31, 2004.
The management said five Malaysians and an Indonesian were picked up on Sept 20. They were Mohammad Radzi bin Abdul Razak (Passport No. A11200721, visa No. 1958/2003), Amin bin Ahmad (A8902138, 2378/2003) Ahmad Muaz Bin Al Bakry (A10506828, 2594/2003), Mohammed Ikhwan Bin Abdullah (A10506828, 1746/2003), Ahmed Firdaus bin Kamarudin (A11192190, 3249/2003) and Indonesian Mohammad Saifuddin bin Abu Amir (K808959, 1119/2003).
They said on Sept 22, the intelligence agencies officials took away four more Indonesian students. They were: David Pintario Bin Walam Arlamyjah (passport No. M567864, visa No. 182/2003), Anwar Siddiqui bin Basthoni (M467865, 185/2003), Furqon Abdullah bin Supriyadi Imam (AD509813, 183/2003) and Ilham Sopandi bin Sopandi (AD716873, 184/2003).
The management said seven out of the 11 arrested students entered Pakistan this year. The four arrested on Sept 22 entered in July.
They said the students were given admission only after they fulfilled all the requirements and furnished their applications with all essential documents.
Later, speaking at a joint press conference at the Abu Bakr Islamic University, Allama Mohammed Abdullah Ghazi and Maulana Anas Abbasi, the spokesmen for the Abu Bakr Islamic University and Darasatul Islamia, respectively, condemned the raids on their institutions.
The top officials of the two institutions and leaders of Tahafuz-i-Huqooq-i-Ahle Hadith and Jamiat Ahle Hadith were also present. They included Maulana Aish Mohammed, Maulana Umer Farooq Saeedi, Maulana Abdul Khaliq Faridi, Maulana Jawaid Salfi, Maulana Mohammed Yousuf Qasoori, Maulana Yaqoob Tahir and Allama Noor Muhammed.
The religious scholars appealed to the chief justices of the Supreme Court and the Sindh High Court to take suo motu notice of the raids on the religious institutions.
They said the two religious education institutions were imparting Islamic education to the students belonging to different countries.
Allama Ghazi said the Abu Bakr Islamic University was an international institution where the students were admitted only after strict scrutiny of their credentials.
He said the government was trying to malign the religious institution due to the arrest of foreign students, who had obtained the no-objection certificates (NOCs) not only from their respective countries but also from the ministries of interior, foreign affairs and education.
The speakers asked the higher authorities if there was any law to contain the excesses of the intelligence agencies or any forum where one could lodge complaints against these agencies.
They said a large number of plainclothes officials stormed into the religious institution on Sept 20 around 10am without any lawful search warrants. Besides picking up the students, the raiders also misbehaved with the teaching staff, they alleged.
The religious scholars demanded of the president, the prime minister, and the chief minister and governor of Sindh, to take prompt steps for the security and sanctity of the religious educational institutions.
They said a vigilant eye was always kept on the movements and activities of the foreign students so that they would not indulge in any unwanted or anti-social activity.
They said a country-wide meeting of the Ulema and religious scholars, belonging to all schools of thought, would be convened next week to chalk out a nation-wide protest against such disgrace of the Islami education institutions.
They said the recent arrests were aimed at appeasing the United States. “It has been done to make President Parvez Musharraf’s visit to the US more colourful.”
