British and US citizens are among about 1,400 foreign students studying in Pakistani religious schools, Interior Minister Aftab Sherpao said Saturday.

"There are around 1,400 foreign students, they are from America, Britain and different countries. They have come on visas," Sherpao told reporters in the southern port city of Karachi after attending a passing out ceremony of Pakistan Coast Guards.

He said there is no country to country agreement about the study of foreign students in madrassas or religious schools and they have come to Pakistan on their own. "And we are now reviewing cases of those who have come here with visas and those who do not have visas," he added.

The minister said those who have valid visas should also get education in their own countries and their visas would be canceled.

He stressed the objective of various religious schools functioning in the country should be to impart appropriate religious as well as other education to the students and train them to become better citizens.

Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf said Friday that all foreign students including dual nationality holders at religious schools must leave the country.

Religious schools in Pakistan have been in the spotlight after one of the London bombers involved in the July 7 London attacks was reported to have studied at one religious school in the eastern city of Lahore.

It is estimated that there are around 20,000 religious schools in Pakistan and around 1.7 million students at the institutions, mainly from poor rural families. The number of foreign students at the schools dropped sharply after the Sept. 11 attacks in the United States.

Source: Xinhua