PESHAWAR, Feb 3: The Afghan students of Deeni Madaris have vowed to continue their Islamic education despite Pakistan government’s strict policy against the foreign students.

These views were expressed by the Afghan students of Islamic seminaries of the city, while commenting on new policy of the government, asking all the foreign students and teachers to get no objection certificates from their respective countries before teaching or studying in Madaris.

The government has set March 23 a deadline to get an NOC either from their respective countries or embassies otherwise they would be deported.

Talking to newsmen here on Sunday, several Afghan students of Jamia Imdad-ul-Uloom, Peshawar cantonment, questioned why President Musharraf did not adopt the same policy for those who are studying in English medium institutions? Mohammad Nawab, a final year student of Hadith, who belongs to the eastern Nangarhar province of Afghanistan, said that the Pakistan government was taking these steps to appease the US government. “If we are not allowed to get education in Madaris we will do the arrangements at our homes, even we will sit under the shadow of trees to acquire Islamic education,” he vowed.

He said that there were a lot of Afghan teachers having good command on Hadith and Islamic jurisprudence, who could provide education to their countrymen anywhere.

His classmate, Mohammad Aslam, who also belongs to the same province, said that no Afghan student had taken the issue seriously as they thought the government warning was only for other foreign students not Afghans. “We always considered ourselves in Pakistan a local, because our tradition, culture and language are the same.” An Afghan student of Darul Uloom Taleemul Quran, Bara Gate, asserted that the law was not for the Afghans as they had been studying in Pakistani Madaris since long.

“If the traders can run their businesses without NOC why not the Afghan students acquire Islamic education in Deeni Madaris,” he questioned.

Commenting on the issue, the former MNA and prayer leader of Darwaish mosque, Maulana Hasan Jan, said that if these Afghan students were thrown out of Madaris they would indulge in crimes.

Eschewing the question of Jamia Imdadul Uloom’s policy for Afghan students, Nazim Attaul Haque Darwish said, “we will abide by the instructions of the government.” He informed that there were 1100 students in the Madressah and few from Afghanistan.

“This year Afghan students are less than the previous years,” he added.