The government does not plan to search religious seminaries to arrest people linked to militant organisations. Brig Javed Iqbal Cheema, National Crises Management Cell director general, told Daily Times on Sunday that no search and arrest operations would be carried out in response to last week’s London bombings. There are more than 11,000 seminaries registered with the Wafaqul Madaris in Pakistan. Religious Ministry sources said about 24,000 more seminaries had applied to the Wafaqul Madaris for registration. Brig Cheema said the government could not start such an operation without setting specified targets. President Pervez Musharraf told senior law enforcement officials after the London bombings to eradicate terrorism in the country by December 2005.Sources said President Musharraf’s political aides had told him that any action against seminaries might negatively impact the upcoming local council elections. They told the president that the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) might exploit the situation in its favour to diminish the elections prospects of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League (PML), sources added. Brig Cheema said Pakistan was helping British authorities to hunt the terrorists involved in the London bombings and that Pakistani authorities were raiding several specific locations in this regard. Three of the four London bombers were believed to be British-born Pakistanis and had visited Pakistan and enrolled in seminaries. Law enforcement personnel were looking into the affairs of the suspected seminaries, Brig Cheema added.