Education Minister ASHK Sadique yesterday said at the Jatiya Sangsad that the government had no plan to ban madrassah education in the country.

“This government is taking no action against madrassah teachers and students. If found linked with any terrorist activities, the accused will be nabbed irrespective of their student or non-student identities", the minister said while giving a statement in •Parliament.

Allaying misunderstanding among certain quarters, the minister said, “There is no point in banning madrassah education. Rather, the government has already taken various projects for development of religious educatiofi'.

Sadique regretted that certain quarters were spreading untrue and motivated statements even in mosques during Juma prayers. “Just because persons with arms in posses-sion are arrested, one can not come to a conclusion that madrasahs will be closed. It does not’happen in case of universities. You know, many were picked up from universities for canyjng guns but we did not close those universities".

The education minister referred to the current political situation in the country and expressed his doubt whether the debate over madrassah was deliberately raised to create a new issue in politics.