ISLAMABAD, Aug 12: Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) on Friday filed an adjournment motion with the National Assembly Secretariat under Section 92 of the Rules of Business 1992, seeking debate on the expulsion orders of the foreign students studying in the seminaries.

The motion has been signed by MNAs Liaquat Baloch, Hafiz Hussain Ahmed, Farid Paracha, Dr Ataur Rahman, Maulana Naseeb Ali Shah, Qazi Hameedullah, Maulana Asadullah, Maulana Abdul Malik, Maulana Ahmed Ghafoor, Samia Raheel Qazi, Aisha Munawar, Qari Gul Rahman, Haroonur Rashid, Asadullah Bhutto, Mian Muhammad Aslam and Syed Mukhtar Mani.

The motion says, “The government’s decision of deporting the foreign religious students was not only a matter of grave concern for the people of Pakistan but it had also hurt the sentiments of the entire Muslim Ummah.”

The decision taken under external pressure is extremely ambiguous, lacking far-sightedness, completely ignoring the sentiments of Muslim Ummah and its governments.

The motion further said, “The decision was not only violative of the promises that the government had made with the patrons of alliance of main religious seminaries but it was also a conspiracy to destroy Pakistan’s central role in Muslim Ummah and Islamic status.”

“It was also a reality, which had been repeated from the government’s platform that the religious students were neither involved in any incident of terrorism nor these institutions were imparting militancy training and there is no precedence in the past when any religious student, especially the foreign students, were found involved in illegal activities.

“Under these circumstances, the government’s move to deport these foreign students, despite its pledges with the ulema and a formal request from Yemen, Indonesia, Malaysia and other brotherly Islamic countries, was against the national interest and not in consonance with the basic diplomatic morals.”

Besides, the motion further said, the unreasonable deportation of those dual nationality holder Pakistani students, who had come here from abroad with the objective of learning about their own values and civilisation, was a serious source of concern for everyone.

The motion sought a full fledge debate on the matter by interrupting the normal business of the house.