Last week I tried to get a visa to visit Pakistan. It was not easy, but I got my stamp. I can only imagine how much more difficult - financially, academically and psychologically - it must be for a young Pakistani to obtain a student visa for Britain. And yet they arrive in their thousands to study and live in Britain. What does that say about Britain's standing among young Pakistanis?

Yes, ten Pakistani students were arrested recently for terrorism- related crimes from nearly 30,000 in Britain, but no charges were brought. And the hundreds of students from Pakistan's border region - President Obama's “most dangerous place in the world” - may be here to escape the tyranny of the Taleban rather than to sponge off the taxpayer.

But The Times is right to expose the sham colleges and the fraudsters who run them. It is always right to expose those who seek to break the law to enrich themselves. But it is not just Pakistanis who use these avenues to come to Britain; large numbers of Russians and Chinese do so, too - in the US such students are regularly accused of industrial espionage.

Pakistan has a unique problem with extremism, and the culture of denial that pervades much of the country greatly harms any serious attempt to uproot extremism. Yet Islam in Pakistan is not inherently extreme. Its Sufi history and spiritual tradition are strong antidotes to political Islamism. We must work with Pakistanis who follow such traditions, rather than demonising them.

In recent weeks, Maajid Nawaz, a director of Quilliam, the counter-extremism think-tank, has been touring universities in Pakistan. To our delight, students there have filled lecture halls to hear a message of religious tolerance and to reject al-Qaeda's plans to re-create a global caliphate. Britain should welcome these students, educate them and send back as ambassadors of democracy and British values, not treat them as terrorism suspects.

Pakistani students at UK universities can help their country and Britain by being vigilant against extremists and terrorists. Britain's intelligence services repeatedly complain about the lack of co-operation from British-born Pakistanis, as well as those from abroad. To save lives is a religious and ethical duty. Working with the authorities to tackle violent extremism is the best illustration of goodwill towards Britain.

Britain cannot close its doors. If we retreat and put up barricades, we allow the extremists to win. Our strength is our weakness: openness, pluralism and respect for others.

Ed Husain is co-director of Quilliam, the counter-extremism think-tank and author of The Islamist (Penguin)

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