Around 1,200 male and female religious students of hard-line Lal
Masjid, or Red Mosque, have surrendered to Pakistani authorities in
the capital city, an interior ministry spokesman said
Wednesday.
Pakistani Interior Ministry Spokesman Javed Iqbal Cheema also
announced that the Red Mosque Imam Maulana Abdul Aziz would be
charged with terrorism and murder.
Maulana Abdul Aziz was arrested earlier by a security cordon
around the mosque after dressing in a burqa to escape detection,
according to officials.
The Pakistani government finally lost patience with the Lal
Masjid leaders on Wednesday and ordered troops in. An immediate
surrender of all religious personnel was given, as well as the
abandoning of all arms.
This followed a firefight on Tuesday between Lal Masjid students
and law enforcers after 100 students attacked policemen and seized
their arms.
Pakistan's deputy information minister earlier Wednesday said
that at least 16 people were killed in the violence, while 150
others had been injured with 54 hit by bullets. He also did not
rule out the possibility of bodies still being inside the
mosque.
Anti-terrorism police reinforcements entered the area as night
fell with several helicopters surveying operations.
The Lal Masjid movement has been part of a Taliban resurgence,
manifested by the entrance of militants from remote areas near
Afghanistan into central Pakistani regions.
The hardliners have mounted a campaign for months, mounting a
vigilante anti-vice drive and campaigning for sharia, the strict
Islamic law.
(Xinhua News Agency,
China Daily via agencies July 5,
2007)
