The Pakistani government decided Wednesday to launch operation
and impose curfew near a mosque in the capital following Tuesday's
bloodshed clashes between religious students and security
forces.
Shoot order has been issued to those who come out armed from the
mosque, Lal Masjid. And the government has ordered the mosque
leaders to surrender.
According to the private Geo TV, Pakistani President General
Pervez Musharraf said that the deaths in Lal Masjid incident were
quite deplorable.
A high-level meeting chaired by Musharraf discussed all options
including operation against the Lal Masjid management.
The meeting also reviewed the public reaction in connection with
the operation of Lal Masjid.
A total of nine people died and many others were injured in
Tuesday's firing exchange between religious students of hard-line
Lal Masjid, or Red Mosque, and law enforcers in Islamabad, said
Zafar Iqbal Wariach, Pakistan's Deputy Minister of State for
Interior, while addressing a news briefing.
The killed included a soldier, four religious students, three
passers-by and one cameraman, said Wariach.
Gunfire started at about 12:30 PM (GMT08:30) noon after a group
of religious students encircled some policemen deployed near the
mosque and snatched arms from them, according to officials.
Sporadic firing between Pakistan Rangers and the religious
students continued for hours until late afternoon, with gun
shooting sounds echoed in the neighborhood.
TV screens showed that tear gas shelling were used by the
paramilitary forces, wearing gas masks.
"Despite unprovoked firing by the students of Lal Masjid, the
government still wants to settle issue through dialogue," said
Wariach, while talking to state-run Pakistan Television
earlier.
Talking to a private TV channel, Pakistani Interior Minister
Aftab Sherpao said the seminary students had started firing first
and asked the Lal Masjid to hand over the students involved in the
incident.
"The government doesn't want bloodshed but would not tolerate
incidents of lawlessness," Sherpao said.
Meanwhile, deputy of the Lal Masjid Abdul Rashid Ghazi said that
the government launched an operation against his mosque and
seminary students without any provocation.
Ghazi said that the Rangers started teargas shelling, gun-firing
that triggered stampede and injured over 100 girl children, while
some of them were taken to the hospital.
After the incident, law enforcers comprising elite forces,
Rangers and policemen, cordoned off the surroundings of Lal
Masjidand blocked the entry of general public.
Vowing to enforce Shariat in the country, Lal Masjid clerics and
their religious students entered into a standoff with the
authorities since months ago over a land dispute about a seminary
affiliated with the mosque.
Since then, the Lal Masjid religious students took a series of
steps from occupying a government library, arresting some alleged
brothel runners, attacking music shops, to kidnapping
policemen.
Pakistani government has managed to defuse most of the Lal
Masjid related tensions through negotiation efforts so far, but
some local analysts believe that the continuous "shocking and
unlawful" activities conducted by Lal Masjid have embarrassed the
government's authority.
But how to deal with Lal Masjid remains a tough question for
Islamabad's decision-makers, as reportedly there are over one
thousand female students currently inside the mosque's affiliated
seminary, who have been used as "human shield" by the mosque's
hard-line clerics, according to some local analysts.
Several hundred security personnel were deployed by authorities
around the mosque on June 27, a move reportedly to keep tabs on the
activities of religious students.
Authorities on July 2 further deployed about 1,000 more Pakistan
Rangers in apartments near Lal Masjid, bringing the total number of
security personnel there to nearly 2,000, according to local
newspapers.
Meanwhile, the government reportedly had also asked government
offices and other people to vacate all buildings near the Lal
Masjid.
Reports said that the Lal Masjid personnel had advanced weapons
and special masks in prevention of tear gas shelling.
Tension apparently ran higher around Lal Masjid after the firing
incident, though government officials said there was no operation
decision made yet.
(Xinhua News Agency July 4, 2007)
