Pak forms MRA to check terror activities originating from country's madrassas - India News and Travel Times Provides India-centric and other News and Features

The Pakistan government has formed a regulatory authority that will look after the working of madrassas in the country, and has made the registration of foreign students mandatory at the time of enrolment in country's Islamic institutions. The Madrassa Regulatory Authority (MRA) will oversee the management of country's madrassas. Interacting with media persons after a meeting with Ittehad Tanzeemul Madaris (ITM), which is a council of Islamic clerics, Interior Minister Rehman Malik said clerics have agreed to the MRA's formation. The MRA would be formed after receiving the final approval from Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, Malik said. "No foreign students would be able to gain admission in a Pakistani madrassa without getting registered. Any madrassa found to be involved in terror-related activities would be severely dealt with," The Daily Times quoted Malik, as saying. Malik said the government has banned the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), and claimed that it was not involved in carrying out any extremist activities in the country. "The government would not allow people to carry out terrorist activities under the guise of jihad," he added.