Four clerics were detained today and three madrassas sealed in Pakistan's restive Baluchistan province, amid reports that militants were planning a new terror strike on educational institutions in the country.
The religious seminaries were sealed as part of a new countrywide crackdown on terrorists and their sympathisers after 20 people, mostly students, were killed in a brazen attack on prestigious Bacha Khan University near Peshawar in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province on January 20.
Earlier today, media reports claimed that as many as 182 'madrassas' have been sealed in the country since the deadly Peshawar school attack in 2014, in a crackdown on religious seminaries allegedly involved in extremism.
A senior police official said that three madrassas were raided near Quetta's Eastern Bypass area this morning after information that it was being used for anti-state activities.
"The Madrassah Hussainia, Madrassah Taleemul Quran and Madrassah Abu Bakar Siddique have all been sealed under the National Action Plan," the official said on condition of anonymity.
He said four clerics- Qari Saifur Rehman, Surat Shah, Habibullah, and Qari Wali - have also been detained.
The action was taken under the National Action Plan (NAP) that was put in place after militants stormed an army school in December, 2014, killing at least 150 people, mostly schoolchildren.
The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has also frozen Rs 1 billion in 126 accounts which have a link to banned militant groups, as part of the strategy to choke terror financing.
The new crackdown comes amidst intelligence reports that terrorists were planning to carry out more attacks on educational institutions in the Khyber Pakhtunkhawa and Baluchistan provinces.
The crackdown was protested by some of the religious parties with prominent religious leader Maulana Fazlur Rehman blaming the government for deteriorating security situation in the country.
Rehman said raiding religious seminaries of any sect would yield no results as these were used for imparting religious education and not terrorism.
There are around 3000 registered religious seminaries in the Baluchistan province.
