Pakistani Government Behind Lal Mosque Crisis

Pakistanis See A Conspiracy In Siege

Courtesy Of: NewsDay
By JAMES RUPERT
james.rupert@newsday.com
July 8, 2007

Many Pakistanis go farther, saying the drama is largely staged by "the agencies," [Pakistan's ISI and other security agencies], as they are called here.

Suggesting just that, Najam Sethi, one of the country's most distinguished journalists, wrote in the weekly Friday Times that:

"it is curious that the Lal Masjid affair has hogged the media precisely when [a] more substantive national issue" - Musharraf's attempt to oust the country's chief justice and manipulate the Supreme Court - has been hurting him politically.

Courtesy Of: IslamOnLine
08/07/2007
10:00:50 AM GMT

ISLAMABAD - Pakistani MPs and scholars mediating an end to the spiraling crisis of the controversial Lal Masjid (Red Mosque) accused Saturday, July 7, the Pakistani government of undermining their efforts to reach a peaceful solution to the standoff.

"Mualana (Abdul Rasheed) Ghazi had agreed to meet and talk to us," woman parliamentarian Samia Raheel Qazi told IslamOnline Saturday, July 7.

"But as soon as we reached near Red Mosque, security forces resorted to heavy firing and shelling making it impossible for us to proceed."

The 11-member delegation led by Sen. Kausar Firdaus met Ghazi, the mosque deputy leader, inside the besieged mosque on Friday night, July 6, to mull a peaceful solution to the crisis. They agreed to hold a new round of talks on Saturday morning.

But the delegation was initially blocked from reaching the battered mosque for three hours by the security forces.

Then security forces began pondering the mosque shortly after they entered the place of worship.

"We wanted to take possession of bodies for burial, injured for medical treatment and get the vulnerable children and women students out of the mosque and the (neighboring) madrassah," said Qazi.

"We tried to contact the higher authorities to work to stop firing so that we could proceed to the Mosque, however we failed. They didn't listen to us."

...The head of Ulema delegation, Shah Abdul Aziz, accused the security forces of mistreating the delegation.

"They misbehaved with us when we asked them to stop firing so that we could proceed to the Mosque," he told IOL.

Security forces arrested three mediators of the opposition six-party religious alliance Muttehida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA), including local leader Syed Bilal.

"He (Bilal) wanted to take a cache of medicines and food with him for the militants hiding in the Mosque," a security official told IOL, requesting anonymity.

...Qazi blasted what he called the government's double-talk.

"On the one hand, the government is appealing to the political and religious figures to help resolve the crisis, while on the other hand, it is creating hurdles in to fail our efforts," said Qazi.

"The only motive we have is to end this crisis peacefully and save hundreds of innocent lives."

She said that Pakistani religious scholars were against the practices of Ghazi and his brother.

"But we are also against the use of military force to suppress them," she noted.

"Both sides should exercise maximum restraint and show flexibility in their stance to save the lives of those who have nothing to do with the ongoing war of nerves."

...Pakistani security forces seemed in no hurry to end the crisis.

"We are not in a hurry," a senior security official told IOL, requesting anonymity.

"Our maximum effort will be to save each and every life. We never want to hurt the innocent female and children who are being used as human shield," he said.

...Ghazi on Thursday offered to surrender along with the armed students if he was given a safe passage to leave.

But the Pakistani government swiftly rebuffed the offer.

"The government has enough power and no one can stand before its might," said Musharraf, a key US ally.

...Pakistani officials estimated that there are between 50 to 60 students inside the mosque after 1,300 surrendered to the authorities.

But Ghazi has said there are 1,900 students in the compound, while his brother, who was captured...trying to escape...on Wednesday, put the number at 850, including 600 females.

Ghazi said that 70 people, including 30 women, have been killed in the fighting since Tuesday. But the government says only 19 people have been killed.