Madrassa foreigners 'must leave'

Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf says all foreign students at madrassas, or religious schools, some 1,400 pupils, must leave the country.
"Any (foreigners) in the madrassas - even dual nationality holders - will leave Pakistan," Gen Musharraf said.

This is the latest in a series of measures the president has announced in a renewed clampdown on extremism.

Madrassas have been in the spotlight after one of the London bombers was reported to have studied at one.

'No misuse'


Gen Musharraf told foreign journalists in Rawalpindi: "They must leave. We will not issue visas to such people.

"We will not allow madrassas to be misused for extremism, hatred being projected in our society."

No new visas will be issued to foreigners wishing to study in the schools.

But the BBC's Aamer Ahmed Khan says it is not clear what effect these measures will have on extremism as the more militant students work at unregulated madrassas that have survived previous crackdowns.

An ordinance would be adopted "in the coming days" on the new move, Gen Musharraf said.

He also told journalists that action would be taken against any of the madrassas that did not register with the authorities.

The president had previously announced all schools must register before December.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/4728643.stm

This seems to me rather extreme, forcing every foreign child out of their school whether the school is extremist or not. What do you guys think of this? An extreme step too far or a reasonable step to stop terror and hate?

P.S. can this thread please not turn into one where some people attack the whole religion of Islam and others start talking about Christian extremism?