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India silent on Pak crackdown on madrassas

India on Thursday refrained from making any comment on the Pakistani crackdown on madrassas describing it as an 'internal process of Pakistan'.

Pakistan's Information Minister Nisar Memon is reported to have said on Wednesday that all of Pakistan's 10,000 madrassas must sign up with the newly created Madrassas Education Board within the next six months and declare their sources of income.

"Only registered madrassas will be entitled to receive financial assistance from the government and no madrassa will be allowed to receive financial assistance, aid or donations from foreign sources," he reportedly said in Islamabad.

Responding to the observations made by Defence Minister George Fernandes that infiltration has reached zero level, external affairs ministry spokesperson Nirupama Rao said, "I had never said no. But the main thing is dismantling of the terrorists' infrastructure and until this happens there cannot be any forward movement."

Fernandes had on Thursday ruled out withdrawal of troops from the Pakistan border, but admitted that infiltration into India through the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir has 'almost ended'.

"Whatever is still taking place will also stop," Fernandes had said while talking to journalists at the inauguration of a business summit 'Kashmir Vision 2020' in Srinagar.

Nirupama Rao also drew a line between the observations made by Pakistan President General Pervez Musharraf and presidential poll nominee Dr A P J Abdul Kalam about the nuclear deterrent.

"Given the propensity on the part of Pakistan to indulge in loose and irresponsible talk, where it has even threatened use of nuclear weapons against India, the only rational conclusion we can draw is that our nuclear arsenal has forestalled the possibility of nuclear blackmail," she said.

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