Pro-Musharraf Pakistan Muslim League-Q has rejected Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gillani's move to establish a monitoring mechanism for the nearly 15,000 madrassas in Pakistan, describing them as 'ideological fortresses' of the country.

"The madrassa system in Pakistan is the world's biggest non-government organisation which provides education to two million students," Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, chief of PML-Q, which is an ally of President Pervez Musharraf [Images], told media persons in Lahore [Images].

Vowing to protect the madrassas, which have been criticised as the breeding grounds for Islamic terrorists, Hussain said there was no need for establishing an authority to monitor them.

Hussain's remarks came after Gillani announced the setting up of a new Madrassa Welfare Authority which will be responsible for the registration of foreign students and audit of funds of seminaries, during his first policy statement on Saturday.

Hussain demanded that a parliamentary committee consisting of representatives of all political parties should be set up to resolve the issue.

He said madrassas were given protection under the previous PML-Q government and his party will keep pressing the current administration led by the Pakistan People's Party not to change the policy.