ISLAMABAD Aug 23: Interior Minister Makhdoom Faisal Saleh Hayat told Senate on Monday that raids on and arrests from seminaries had proved a link between terrorists and some madressah heads.

Speaking in the upper house, the minister said Maulana Abdur Rashid was involved in a plot to blow the parliament house, presidency and prime minister's house and he could not be spared.

He assured the house that the ongoing operation against the terror network had no designs of targeting any particular group or party. Its objective was to flush out the remnants of terrorists who had shifted their activities to cities.

The government, he said, was appreciative of religious schools and wanted to improve their condition by pumping funds and extending assistance. He, however, regretted that some elements were misusing their position while sitting in madressahs as their heads, and Maulana Ghazi Abdur Rashid was one of them.

The interior minister denied allegations that police had entered any girls seminary at night. Earlier, Minister for Religious Affairs Ijazul Haq also defended raids on madressahs and said the information received had indicated some link between terrorists and seminaries.

He assured that the government held ulema and religious personalities in high esteem and did not intend to take any action against religious institutions. He said that all information gathered by agencies about the plot to target government buildings and certain personalities in the federal capital had a link with the head of a local mosque.