Islamabad: clerics to negotiate mosque surrender
BEIJING, July 9 (Xinhuanet) -- Pakistan President Gen. Pervez Musharraf at a high-level meeting Monday decided to give clerics more time to persuade militants -- now described as wanted terrorists -- to put down their weapons and surrender a mosque they have defended against government troops, security officials said.
The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media, said among the mediators would be Taqi Usmani, a former teacher of the besieged mosque's senior cleric, Abdul Rashid Ghazi.
Some clerics, including Usmani, have attempted without success to persuade Ghazi to end the siege peacefully since the crisis erupted. A mosque spokesman, meanwhile, claimed hundreds of men and women died in a military assault on the mosque and adjoining Islamic school.
It was impossible to verify either claim in the escalating battle of gunfire and rhetoric between the government and the defenders of Islamabad's Red Mosque.
Musharraf sent in troops last Wednesday, a day after supporters of the mosque's radical clerics fought gunbattles with security forces sent to contain their campaign to impose Taliban-style rule in the capital.
At least 24 people have died so far, including a special forces commando shot as the military blasted holes in the walls of the fortified compound. Officials said they hoped hundreds of students allegedly being held hostage in the mosque could use the gaps to escape.
...
Pertinent Links:
1) Islamabad: clerics to negotiate mosque surrender
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment