LAHORE, Aug 10: Two foreign students of seminaries left Pakistan voluntarily for their hometown in Nepal on Wednesday. The two Nepalese crossed the Wagah border on foot. Their fellow students and administrators of the seminaries saw them off at the border. They came to the border at around 10am, but the immigration authorities did not allow them to leave till 3pm owing to some problems with the documents of one of them.

“My father is a teacher at a religious school in Mumbai. I will have a brief stay with my father before proceeding to my hometown,” Ahmad Ali, 21, a Jamia Naeemia student in Garhi Shahu, said.

The other student, Shabnam Shagoofa, 19, is his aunt, who had been studying for two years at the Sirajia Naeemia in Mughalpura.

The students left Pakistan as part of President Musharraf’s decision to expel all foreign students —- 1,400 —- from seminaries before December.

Principal Dr Sarfraz Naeemi of both the religious schools said that the students had not been served with notices by the government. But, he said, the students and their families decided on their own to leave Pakistan to avoid any eventuality.

Ali said that he was enrolled in the religious school in 2001 for an eight-year study programme. He said that he had completed almost half of his studies and learnt the Holy Quran by heart. He said that he wanted to complete his studies.

“My family asked me to leave Pakistan because they do not want to see me in trouble here. I want to complete the studies. I enjoyed my stay in Pakistan and was doing well in the studies.”

Ali said that he would like to make it clear that religious students in Pakistan were interested only in their studies. Blaming them for carrying out anti-state activities was unfair, he said.

On the occasion, Dr Naeemi posed a question to President Musharraf to explain the future of foreign students who had been asked to leave without completing their studies. Had Musharraf’s children been expelled from an American University this way, what would have been his reaction? Dr Naeemi asked.