ISLAMABAD, July 30: The Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) has criticized President Gen Pervez Musharraf’s decision to expel foreign students studying in Madressahs. MMA president Qazi Hussain Ahmed and acting secretary-general Hafiz Hussain Ahmed have termed the pronouncement ‘disastrous’ for the national image as well as the economy.

Talking to Dawn by telephone, Qazi Hussain Ahmed said: “There is resentment in Madressahs about the decision which will be discussed and challenged in the proposed ‘Tahafuz-i-deeni madaris’ convention in August.” He said it was strange that President Musharraf wanted to bar foreign students from studying in the country’s Madressahs, who came as far afield as the United States, United Kingdom, Africa and South Africa and were a source of foreign exchange.

All the heads of country’s leading religious schools, he said, were opposed to the president’s pronouncing the policy which was the prerogative of the elected parliament. The MMA president said the decision seemed to be very strange if seen in the light of the fact that none of the 19 suspects held in connection with London and Egypt blasts belonged to the Madressahs in Pakistan.

In his reaction, MMA leader Hafiz Hussain Ahmed labelled the pronouncement as ‘a dictatorial decree by an individual’ which held far reaching repercussions. He said that it violated fundamental human rights and was a deviation from the authority of the parliament.

He said expulsion of foreign students from Madressahs without any proof was a great injustice. He said that filing of a reference against the decision would also be considered.