PESHAWAR: The provincial government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in northwest Pakistan today ordered the expulsion of nearly 300 Afghan clerics from mosques across the restive province and asked officials to submit a report within a week.
According to the Home Department, there are 294 Afghan Pesh Imams (prayer leaders) across the province. It has issued directives to all the commissioners and DIGs to this effect.
All the commissioners and DIGs have been ordered to immediately take action in this regard and submit progress report with in 7 days, the Home Department said.
"All efforts are being made to remove Afghan Pesh Imams from the province," it said.
The notice said that action will be taken against local people if they hire foreigners as Pesh Imams in their mosques.
The provincial government shifted all the Afghan refugees from Azakhel camp in Nowshera district to Shamshatoo camp in Peshawar last week. These refugees will be sent to Afghanistan in the next phase.
The order from the provincial government has come in wake of the Taliban assault on an army-run school in Peshawar on December 16. Out of the 150 people killed in the attack, 136 were students.