Print

Mail

wiki links

Leaders of mosque siege in Pakistan remain defiant

Religious students sit on the ground after their surrender yesterday near Lal Masjid mosque in Islamabad. Leaders of the siege remained defiant as a deadline calling for their immediate surrender passed yesterday. PHOTO: AFP

Leaders of a besieged radical mosque in Islamabad remained defiant as a deadline calling for their immediate surrender passed yesterday, a day after clashes there killed at least 10 people.

However, more than 500 of their followers surrendered as government troops with armored personnel carriers tightened their stranglehold on the Lal Masjid, or Red Mosque, in the heart of the capital, said Khalid Pervez, the capital's top security official.

More militants were emerging from the mosque, gathering in an open field and then climbing aboard buses that were provided by authorities, he said.

The militants were ordered to lay down their arms and surrender by 11am.

All women and children will be granted amnesty, but males involved in killings and other crimes as well as the top leaders of the mosque would face legal action, Deputy Information Minister Tariq Azim said.

"The deadline has expired, but we will not start any action immediately. We do not want bloodshed. We are reasonably sure better sense will prevail," Pervez said.

He said the government would give 5,000 rupees (US$83) to each person who surrendered to help them return home.

As the deadline passed, the mosque's deputy leader, Abdul Rashid Ghazi, said he was prepared to talk with the government, but added that "we will continue to defend ourselves."

Ghazi told a local TV channel that he was not aware of any surrender deadline.

Those who surrendered came from the mosque and an adjacent seminary for women, Pervez said.

The events came after a day of bloody clashes at the mosque between security forces and militants living inside the sprawling mosque, which has been at loggerheads with the government.

The violence was sparked when male and female student followers at the mosque -- some of them armed -- rushed toward a police checkpoint.

The bloodshed added to a sense of crisis in Pakistan, where President Pervez Musharraf already faces emboldened militants near the Afghan border and a pro-democracy movement triggered by his attempt to fire the country's chief justice.
This story has been viewed 1169 times.