ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) - Pakistan has blocked financial assistance to 115 Islamic schools because of their alleged involvement in militancy, sectarian violence and terrorism, a senior cleric said Monday.
"The government will not release funds to those 115 madrassas whose students or heads have been linked to militancy," Mufti Abdul Qavi, a member of the Pakistan Madrassa Education Board, authorized recently by President Gen. Pervez Musharraf to purge Islamic schools of extremism. "How can we provide funds to those who are involved in militancy?"
Over the next three years, the government will release 15 billion rupees (dlrs 250 million) to some 8,000 Islamic schools, but those on the blacklist "will not get even a single penny," Qavi told The Associated Press by telephone.
Violence erupted in Pakistan after the Sept. 11 attacks in the United States when Musharraf decided to support the U.S.-led coalition's war on terrorism. Heeding appeals from pro-Taliban clerics, thousands of students at Islamic schools opposed the decision, calling it a betrayal and demanding that coalition forces in Pakistan be sent home.
The Interior Ministry and security agencies reportedly told Musharraf at a recent briefing about possible links between militant groups and terrorist acts in the country.
Qavi said most of the schools belong to the Deoband, Ahle Hadith, Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan and minority Shi'ite organizations.
"Madrassah of the outlawed Lashkar-e-Tayyaba, Jaish-e-Mohammaed and other militant organizations - fighting Indian rule in Kashmir - will also not be eligible for any kind of government financial assistance," he said.
Jaish-e-Mohammed and Lashkar-e-Tayyaba are among the militant groups blamed by India for the deadly Dec. 13 attack on its parliament.
Tensions have escalated between Pakistan and India since then, and the two sides have massed a total of a million troops on their border, increasing fears of a war.