KARACHI, July 28: The administration of a Karachi-based madressah has denied holding an American citizen at the seminary against her will and has claimed that she is free to leave the facility whenever she wants.

Reports in the media had recently surfaced in which an obscure American organization called the South Asian Foundation for Education and Reform (Safer) had sought the ‘release’ of Muna Abanur Mahamed, an American citizen of Somali origin currently studying at the Jamia Binoria al-Alamiyah, or Binoria University International, located in the city’s dusty industrial area of Site.

“High-level American diplomats have visited our institute and are satisfied. The student in question overstayed her visa by eight days. We had applied for the renewal about two months in advance, but the authorities concerned used delaying tactics. Hence, due to her overstaying, she was blacklisted, as if she was a criminal. As long as her visa is not extended, how can she leave Pakistan?” Mufti Mohammad Naeem, the administrator of the Jamia, told Dawn. Ms Mahamed, the student at the centre of the storm, is a 20-year-old Somali American from the state of New York, doing an aalima course, the duration of which is six years, at the seminary.

Mufti Naeem said the first-year student at the seminary has just finished sitting her annual exams and will leave for the United States in the first week of August, as her parents have already sent her ticket.

Dawn’s repeated requests to meet the student to get her version of the events were turned down by the madressah administration as they claimed she was in a “highly disturbed state after the episode and in no condition to talk to the media.”

According to another seminary official, a total of eight students have been blacklisted for overstaying their visa – five boys and three girls. He said this was the first time any students of the Jamia had been blacklisted. He added that after a person has been blacklisted, they are barred from travel out of their home country for at least four to five years.

The press reports had also stated that Pakistan’s ministry of foreign affairs had last month ordered the seminary administration to “return Muna and two other non-Pakistani students to their countries.”

When contacted, Foreign Office spokesperson Mohammad Sadiq told Dawn: “I have seen reports in the press regarding this girl but I am not sure the Foreign Office has anything to do with the whole affair.”

When Mufti Naeem was asked about the exact number of foreign students studying at the Jamia, he shied away from giving details of foreign students as he didn’t want to be “harassed” by the powers that be.

However, when this reporter entered the Jamia, it was obvious that a fair number of foreigners still came to the institute for a religious education, as students with various racial features milled about the campus, most wearing skull caps, others with flowing robes and turbans. A Jamia press release given to Dawn states that students from 29 nations – including the United States of America – study at the institute.

Mufti Naeem also denied that two students named in media reports – Noor and Mahboob Khan from Atlanta – were ill treated at the madressah. “They want to return to the Jamia to continue their studies. Why would they want to come back if they were mistreated? However, certain quarters are claiming they were brainwashed and that is why they want to come back. That’s preposterous.”When a source at the American Embassy in Islamabad was contacted for comments about Ms Mahamed, he said “We cannot comment on (the affairs of) any US citizen. It is a matter of privacy as per US law. Unless the person concerned gives us a waiver, we cannot say anything.”

‘Double standards’