Red Mosque leader urges surrender

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The captured leader of Pakistan's Red Mosque has called on his nearly 1,000 followers still inside the complex to surrender or flee, as the country's military appears to be preparing to end the standoff.

Dozens of students earlier surrendered at the mosque and religious school in central Islamabad on Thursday.

Witnesses reported hearing explosions, which the military called "warning blasts", and sporadic gunfire.

Rageh Omaar, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Islamabad, said: "There's been intermittent gunfire and I can smell some teargas and two large explosions as well, but it's controlled firing."

He said a huge number of Pakistani troops were massing together.

Burqa escape bid

Pakistani officials refused to give details on an assault and barred journalists from entering the area.

Abdul Aziz Ghazi, the leader of the mosque, also known as Lal Masjid, was arrested by security forces on Wednesday night after trying to escape the compound in a full-length burqa.

In an interview broadcast on state television on Thursday, he said about 850 students remained inside, including 600 women and girls, and 14 men who were armed with Kalashnikovs.

Abdul Aziz, who began the interview wearing a burqa, said the people still inside would not be able to hold out for long.

Smiling through much of the interview, he said he left the mosque to stop the bloodshed, and had urged others to do the same, but some women teachers had persuaded girls to stay behind.

The depuy leader of the mosque, Abdul Aziz's brother Abdul Rashid Ghazi, remains inside.

Ready for talks

Speaking to Al Jazeera's correspondent, Abdul Rashid said that about 2,000 students remained inside and said the conflict did not need to end in bloodshed.

Abdul Rashid had said on Wednesday that he was prepared to talk with the government, but added: "We will continue to defend ourselves".

He said the mosque had enough supplies to carry on "until God wants".

The siege began when the Pakistani army surrounded the mosque on Wednesday, a day after at least 16 people were killed in clashes between security forces and armed activists from the mosque.

Liberal politicians had been pressing Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan's president, for months to crack down on the brothers running the Red Mosque.

Musharraf himself has accused the mosque of sheltering al-Qaeda members.

The students carried out a series of provocative acts over the past six months, demanding the enforcement of Islamic law, and running a vigilante anti-vice campaign.

Abdul Aziz had also threatened suicide attacks if force was used against his movement.

Amnesty offered

About 1,200 students walked out of the mosque compound on Wednesday in exchange for a pardon and a payment of $83 (5,000 rupees).

Tariq Azim, the deputy information minister, had said that all women and children would be granted amnesty, but men involved in killings and other crimes as well as mosque leaders would face legal action.

By the time a new deadline for surrender passed shortly after noon on Thursday, only around 66 students had walked out.

One who decided to give up, 15-year-old Maryam Qayyeum, said those who stayed in the religious school "only want martyrdom".

"They are happy," she said. "They don't want to go home."

Source
 
captured leader of Pakistan's Red Mosque has called on his nearly 1,000 followers still inside the complex to surrender or flee, as the country's military appears to be preparing to end the standoff.
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:sl: and so they should! declaring a state of Jihad...ok may sound like a novel idea to some....but what those women did...I think its wrong....laa ikraaha fid'deen..there shall bo no compulsion in religion...and our job is to convey....NOT to convert! they cudda gone about their business in a better way... :w:
 
yeah its amazing how shaytaan can turn good intentions into bad actions... obviously at some point the intention must have become bad...
 
...FLaWeD... said:
:sl: and so they should! declaring a state of Jihad...ok may sound like a novel idea to some....but what those women did...I think its wrong....laa ikraaha fid'deen..there shall bo no compulsion in religion...and our job is to convey....NOT to convert! they cudda gone about their business in a better way... :w:
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Salam

what women are you refering to and what did they do?
 
Fresh fighting at Pakistan mosque

Fresh fighting at Pakistan mosque
Fresh fighting has erupted at the Red Mosque in Pakistan's capital, Islamabad, where a government siege of radical Islamists is in its fourth day.

Troops launched an assault as a group of students tried to leave the complex. Two students were killed, bringing the death toll to 21.

But President Pervez Musharraf has held back from a full assault, fearing casualties among women and children.

Earlier the mosque's deputy leader said he would rather die than surrender.

The BBC's Shoaib Hasan in Islamabad says a group of students tried to break out of the complex, sparking a co-ordinated assault on three sides by armoured personnel carriers and rangers.

Two students were killed in an exchange of fire and at least 10 wounded, four of them seriously.

But our correspondent says the clashes have died down and this has not been a full-scale attack.

Mosque deputy leader Abdul Rashid Ghazi said he would leave on certain conditions, including being allowed to look after his ailing mother.

Pakistani government ministers dismissed the deal and Mr Ghazi said he would not surrender unconditionally.

"We have decided that we can be martyred but we will not surrender. We are ready for our heads to be cut off but we will not bow to them," he said.

Mr Ghazi's brother Maulana Abdul Aziz - leader of the mosque - was earlier captured while trying to escape wearing a woman's burqa.

'Plane targeted'

Separately, Pakistan's media reported that Gen Musharraf's plane came under fire as it took off from a military base close to the capital.


Officials denied the reports, but police said they had found two anti-aircraft guns on a rooftop near the air base, in Rawalpindi. It was not clear if the guns had been fired.

Gen Musharraf, who has survived previous assassination attempts, was said to be unharmed.

It is believed several hundred religious students are still inside the complex, after more than 1,000 left under mounting pressure from security forces.

Officials said about 60 of those remaining are hard-liners, who have been at the vanguard of campaigning for the imposition of strict Islamic law (Sharia) in Islamabad.

The BBC's Barbara Plett in Islamabad says the government is piling psychological pressure on those still inside with a mass demonstration of force demanding unconditional surrender.

The view here is that the clerics want an honourable exit, but the president is determined to inflict absolute defeat on the Red Mosque, our correspondent says.

'Human shields'

Speaking in a telephone interview broadcast on Pakistani television, Mr Ghazi said he had told government mediator Chaudry Shujaat Hussain that his followers were ready to surrender.

But Mr Ghazi said he had insisted the authorities promise not to detain anyone who they could not prove belonged to any banned militant groups, or were not wanted for any crime.

The cleric also demanded a guarantee of safety for himself and his family, saying he wanted to remain on the premises with his sick mother until they were able to move elsewhere.

Deputy Information Minister Tariq Azim Khan said Mr Ghazi and the remaining students would have to lay down their arms unconditionally like all those who left the mosque since the violence began on Tuesday.

Earlier, Mr Khan accused the Red Mosque Islamists of using women and children as human shields, saying a number of them were being held hostage in the building's basement.
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6278074.stm

I'm surprised noone here is talking about this? This is serious stuff, no? I gotta say I'm very confused about the whole affair, I still don't quite understand what this is about. Is the problem that the followers of this mosque are trying to apply Sharia law and that the government won't allow it?-
 
:salamext:

This is what the news says........right.....the same we hear on tv. They are showing whats happening, but i dont know, i am curious to know the real truth. Whats going on behind the scenes?

Abdul Aziz, who began the interview wearing a burqa, said the people still inside would not be able to hold out for long.
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My personal thought- to be honest, that interview seemed to be like a drama...........(i know the issue is serious- so many people have died) but why is this scene being dragged in the most dramatic way possible.

And especially, all this lal masjid issue starts floating as the Chief justice case is being taken up in the Supreme Court..........


Any views?

:wasalamex
 
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well i don't know why it took the pakistani gov't so long to deal with this issue. i think even the people who want a shariah state, do not endorse this group. some parents came to get their kids and the students fired on them too.
anyway, here is the latest. i still hope this can be resolved without more bloodshed, but right now, it doesn't look like it.
this is just the beginning of the article. for the whole article go here:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/6280172.stm

Pakistan issues mosque ultimatum

Pakistan's president has issued an ultimatum to radical Islamists barricaded inside an Islamabad mosque.
President Pervez Musharraf told mosque leaders to free women and children and surrender "or they will be killed".

He spoke after troops outside the mosque stopped a delegation of Islamist politicians from entering to negotiate with those inside.

Hundreds of people are still inside the complex, which is surrounded by troops and armoured vehicles.

The delegates wanted to convince the mosque's leader, Abdul Rashid Ghazi, to allow women and children to leave.

Heavy bursts of gunfire and explosions rocked the Red Mosque overnight after armoured vehicles moved in and heavy exchanges of fire erupted at the complex early on Saturday.

Big chunks of debris, believed to be part of the mosque's perimeter wall, were blown high above the surrounding treetops.

Water and power to the mosque have been cut off and food is said to be getting scarce.
 
Pakistani Government....they r just planning to kill all the mujahideens so that they can carry on doing all this wickedness!! May Allah guide them or destroy them badly..Ameen!

Wamakaroo makran wamakarna makran wahum la yashAAuroona
27:50 They plotted and planned, but We too planned, even while they perceived it not.
 
they have given them the chance to come out and the gov't has more or less used restraint.
what is islamic about shooting at the parents who come to pick up their children??? is this the act of a mujahid?
 
snakelegs said:
they have given them the chance to come out and the gov't has more or less used restraint.
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Oh woooww!! Keep it up...m amazed at the way people have believed one-sided story so blindly!!??!!.. Ask us..we know how much are our government people concerned about the situation of public! Where are these self-controls and defences when their own people kill innocent muslims without any reasons.. And all on the liberty provided to them by this PAKISTANI GOVERNMENT' :rolleyes:


snakelegs said:
what is islamic about shooting at the parents who come to pick up their children??? is this the act of a mujahid?
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Astaghfirullah!! wht abt the bombardment...was it from those mujahids too....????
^o)
 
Red Mousque Fight

salaams ppl alot of u must hav read abt the fight in pakistan between the madressahs and the army or wateva so im kinda lost can any1 tell me wat are they actually fighting abt??? its kinda sad how divedid us muslims actually are
 
are you saying that the shooting at the parents didn't happen?
they have been trying to take the law in their own hands since january. the bombardment of the mosque was not done in the name of religion.
but enough of my opinions.
do you think pakistan should allow this group to establish shariah by force?
what do you think should happen next?
what do you think will happen next?
thanks.
just wanted to add here that i do not use mainstream media for my information sources.
 
Last edited:
I have a question, why pakistani army attacked that mosque. What was the reason?
 
Re: Red Mousque Fight

In The Name of Allah, The Most Gracious, The Most Merciful​

:salamext:

is it true that the red masjid imam Abdul Aziz tried to escape wearing a women's burka? I read it on BBC.

wasalam
-SI-
 
Re: Red Mousque Fight

ye i read tht 2 but ye my dad also read it on a urdu newspaper
 
Aaron85 said:
Actually i need some short and easy explanation, if anyone cares anyway :D
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Here is my take for wht it is worth. Hard liner uses mosque as personal fiefdom, recruits many hard liners to follow him and begins to take extra-legal actions to establish Islamic law. Musharraf is initially hesitant to act lest it provoke wide unrest. Instead, he assumes the ostrich starategy. It doesn't work. The radicals are emboldened. The military finally surrounds the mosque...<waves hands> a dozen or so people are killed....the cleric who had called for his followers to follow him whatever the cost instead tries to sneak out in a burka :D This undercuts his support among the public. 100-700 remain in the mosque and some may be hostages. This could end badly.
 
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