DAR AL ISLAM - PAKISTAN: MUSHARRAF, LAL MASJID & SHARI'AH

Embattled Musharraf faces mosque dilemma
by Danny Kemp

ISLAMABAD (AFP) - With Islamic hardliners battling security forces on the streets of the Pakistani capital, President Pervez Musharraf faces a major new test as he seeks to shore up his eight-year military rule.

Analysts say Musharraf has faced a dilemma in dealing with the activities of Lal Masjid, or the Red Mosque, which effectively tried to set up a Taliban mini-state in the heart of Islamabad.

Burqa-clad female students from an Islamic school attached to the mosque and their male counterparts have raided local music shops and mounted several kidnappings as part of a zealous anti-vice campaign in recent months.

Gunfights between students from the mosque and police on Tuesday left 16 people dead and piled pressure on Musharraf amid a simmering, separate crisis over his suspension of the country's chief justice.

The government clamped a shoot-on-sight curfew on the area around the mosque and troops in olive-green armoured vehicles poured into the leafy capital early on Wednesday.

But as the standoff at the mosque moved into a second night, it highlighted the difficulties facing Musharraf.

Raid the mosque -- which at full strength has nearly 9,000 male and female students -- and, as Musharraf himself said last week, he runs the risk of a bloodbath that would further alienate the religious right.

Do nothing and he appears weak, not just to his domestic opponents but also his international allies, already riled by Pakistan's perceived lack of cooperation in tackling the Taliban.

Musharraf was chastened by China, Pakistan's closest ally, when students from the mosque last month briefly abducted six Chinese women and a Chinese man they accused of running a brothel.

"The violence in the capital adds to the pressure on the government, which is not totally in control," political commentator Shafqat Mahmood told AFP.

"From the moment this problem started, the government showed itself to be incapable of taking any action, with the result that these mad people kept becoming aggressive and started to take all kinds of actions," he said.

"This operation against Lal Masjid should have happened a long time ago but it seems Musharraf's resolve is gone and he is no longer able to take firm action."

But such firm action got Musharraf into trouble in March, when he suspended the independent-minded chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, sparking nationwide protests.

With his attention elsewhere, the two brothers who lead the mosque, the reclusive Abdul Aziz and the more media-friendly Abdul Rashid Ghazi, capitalised to advance their campaign for Islamic Sharia law.

Conspiracy-minded commentators pointed out that trouble at the mosque has flared up whenever the judicial crisis did.

This has led to suspicions that Musharraf's intelligence services were using the situation to hype the perceived Islamist threat to Pakistan and appease his Western allies, consumed by the threat of terrorism.

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"Even by taking action now, Musharraf sends a positive message abroad that he can take on these extremists," he said. "It will boost his image abroad and the international community will welcome it."

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Curfew around Lal Masjid as operation approved

ISLAMABAD: The government decided late on Tuesday to launch an operation against Lal Masjid in Islamabad to enforce the writ of the state, after clashes between students of madrassas affiliated with the mosque and security forces claimed 12 lives. This decision was taken in a three-hour meeting chaired by President General Pervez Musharraf at his camp office in Rawalpindi, sources privy to the meeting told Daily Times. Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, PML President Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, Secretary General Mushahid Hussain, Information Minister Muhammad Ali Durrani and top security officials attended the meeting. It was decided that the Lal Masjid administration would be given a brief ultimatum to surrender and vacate the mosque and its allied madrassas. They would also be asked to hand over madrassa students accused of taking the law into their own hands and attacking law enforcement officials. If the demands are not met, security forces would start an operation, possibly amidst a curfew. Sources privy to the meeting said that Gen Musharraf was briefed on the ongoing clashes between madrassa students and law enforcement officials and expressed grave concern at the situation. He said he was resolved to ensure the writ of the state in the face of any challenge. “The government has decided to launch the operation. The army will be on standby and police and Rangers will conduct the operation,” a senior official told AFP. “They have forced it on us. The operation will be soon.” The official indicated the operation was unlikely to be an immediate raid on the compound and would probably start with the area around the mosque being sealed off. Utilities could then be cut to the site, the official said.

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Deadline for Lal Masjid administration further extended

ISLAMABAD: The government Wednesday further extended deadline to 04:30 pm for the Lal Masjid administration. President Pervez Musharraf is presiding over a high level meeting to discuss Lal Masjid situation. Federal ministers and other top officials are also attending the meeting. Over 750 female and male students of Lal Masjid and Jamia Hafsa have surrendered to the authorities.The authorities have shifted surrendering male students to various jails and police stations. Meanwhile, the authorities have stepped up security in the country. Curfew has been clamped in G-6 area of the federal capital and shoot at sight orders have been issued after decision of operation against the people entrenched in the seminaries.

Pak army contingents were reached Islamabad to assist police and Rangers.

According to recent reports, Mian Aslam Bodla, a member of National Assembly from Muttahida Majalis Amal has been detained under maintenance of public order.

The announcement of imposition of curfew was made after a joint press conference by Federal Minister for Information Muhammad Ali Durrani and State Minister for Interior Zafar Iqbal Warraich.

G-6 area of the federal capital remained tense after 12 deaths in shootout between security forces and armed men in Lal Masjid on Tuesday. Army troops have also been called to assist Police and Rangers.

Security men have cordoned off the area surrounding Lal Masjid and laid barbed wire around it. The government officials said that those who surrender would be dealt with softly.

Lal Masjid Naib Khateeb Maualana Abdur Rasheed Ghazi talking to Geo News said he is ready to layoff arms provided the president gives him guarantee. He said the Lal Masjid management is prepared to hold talks, but it should be preceded by assurance for cessation of firing and withdrawal of rangers from their positions in Lal Masjid area.

Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) Secretary-General and opposition leader in the National Assembly Maulana Fazlur Rehman talking to Geo News said that after contacts with Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and Maulana Abdur Rasheed Ghazi a possibility to make some headway came around.

ISPR Spokesman Maj Gen Arshad Waeed said Wednesday the operation against Lal Masjid will be carried out by police and Rangers personnel with Pak army on standby to assist the civil administration.

He said that no tanks were called in the federal capital; there are only armoured vehicles for movement of the troops, he added.

Interior Secretary Syed Kamal Shah on his return from India has said that the administration has kept all options open to meet the Lal Masjid situation.

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Hundreds surrender at radical mosque in Pakistan where clashes killed 16
By Stephen Graham, Associated Press

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — About 700 followers of a radical mosque surrendered Wednesday as government troops with armored personnel carriers tightened their stranglehold on the building a day after clashes killed at least 16 people, officials said.

However, Minister of Information Mohammed Ali Durrani said that "a few hundred" militants could remain inside the Lal Masjid, or Red Mosque, whose clerics have challenged the government by trying to impose a Taliban-style version of Islamic law in the capital.

One of those who decided to give up, 15-year-old Maryam Qayyeum, said many were not leaving the seminary. "They are happy. They only want martyrdom. They don't want to go home," she said.

The militants had been ordered by the government to lay down their arms and surrender by 11 a.m. Wednesday, following a day of bloody clashes between security forces and militants living inside the sprawling mosque compound.

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Hardcore Islamists refuse to surrender in Pakistan mosque siege
by David Byers and Zahid Hussain, Islamabad

Up to 1,500 pro-Taleban extremists holed up in Islamabad's largest mosque were refusing to surrender to government troops massing around them today, in what is being regarded as a crucial battle against rising fundamentalism in Pakistan.

As troops loyal to the Pakistani President demanded that students inside Islamabad's Red Mosque give themselves up, around 750 were seen to surrender this morning but as many as 1,500 hardliners were still resolutely refusing to come out. Uniquely, many of those inside are believed to be women affiliated to the mosque's radical madrassa.

After clashes outside the mosque killed 16 people yesterday, troops in armoured personnel carriers today warned that they would operate a shoot-on-sight policy for anyone emerging with a weapon. In return, militants inside the mosque have repeatedly threatened that any troops confronting them will face a wave of suicide bomb attacks.

The battle at the mosque - situated only a mile and a half from General Pervez Musharraf's Presidential compound - is viewed by Pakistan's fragile pro-Western Government as a crucial stand against an explosion of Islamist extremism in the country's capital over the last year.

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Heavy firing exchange between Lal Masjid personnel and law enforcers starts

ISLAMABAD, July 4 (Xinhua) -- Heavy firing exchange between hard-line Lal Masjid personnel and law enforcers in Pakistani capital Islamabad started Wednesday, TV channels reported.

Armored vehicles of armed forces were advancing forward and started gas shelling, and firing from the Lal Masjid, or Red Mosque, also began.

Earlier TV screen footages quoted President Pervez Musharraf as saying that there was no compromise on writ of government and time for negotiation was over.

The private DAWN NEWS TV channel quoted unnamed sources as saying that the Army and Rangers have been given final order to go ahead.

Pakistani government has called for surrender of religious personnel in the mosque, and handover of personnel involved in snatching arms and opening firing on security personnel at noon on July 3.

Over 700 religious students have surrendered to the authorities and they were allowed to go home freely with government finance of about 5,000 rupees (about 83.3 U.S. dollars) for each person, according to local reports.

The firing exchange between the hard-line religious students and law enforcers on Tuesday afternoon left at least 10 people killed and some 94 others injured, officials said.


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Eleven killed in suicide attack on Pakistani military convoy

ISLAMABAD, July 6 (KUNA) -- The casualty toll of the suicide attack on a military convoy in Pakistan's North Waziristan tribal agency earlier Wednesday rose to six soldiers and five civilians killed and more than five others injured, said officials.

A suicide bomber rammed his vehicle into the convoy near a checkpost in Mir Ali town of the agency, security officials told KUNA.

Officials said the explosion instantly killed five soldiers and four civilians. One solider and one civilian died of wounds in the hospital.

More than five soldiers and civilians were also wounded, officials said.However, military spokesman Waheed Arshad when contacted could confirm only four deaths. He said four soldiers were killed and six were wounded.



Pertinent Links:

1) Embattled Musharraf faces mosque dilemma

2) Curfew around Lal Masjid as operation approved

3) Deadline for Lal Masjid administration further extended

4) Hundreds surrender at radical mosque in Pakistan where clashes killed 16

5) Hardcore Islamists refuse to surrender in Pakistan mosque siege

6) Heavy firing exchange between Lal Masjid personnel and law enforcers starts

7) Eleven killed in suicide attack on Pakistani military convoy