Adil Najam
UPDATE: Reports in the Pakistan media suggest that the Lal Masjid leader has finally been arrested while trying to escape wearing a burqa. According to a BBC update:
The leader of a radical mosque besieged by Pakistani security forces in Islamabad has been caught trying to escape wearing a woman’s burqa. Security forces seized Abdul Aziz as he tried to leave the Red Mosque amid a crowd of women… He was wearing a burqa that also covered his eyes,” a security official told the AFP news agency about the cleric’s escape bid. “Our men spotted his unusual demeanour. The rest of the girls looked like girls, but he was taller and had a pot belly.“
ORIGINAL POST: Things are moving fast and the showdown at Lal Masjid, Islamabad that began this morning is now ready to turn into an even more real battle. The day took the lives of at least 10 people, possibly more. These included policemen, soldiers, by-standers, a journalist, and a number of Madrassah students. (For details see our earlier post and update comments on it, here).
The latest – and this keeps changing by the minute – is that in a mid-night press conference the government has given an ultimatum to the management of the Lal Masjid (Red Mosque) to surrender. There is no indication that they will. In the past things have always ended with ‘negotiated settlements.’ This time the likelihood of this happening is much less. A curfew has been imposed in the area. Tanks have been called in. So have special forces.
Metroblog Islamabad is doing a wonderful job of keeping abreast with breaking news. It reports, through Dawn TV, that 111 Brigade (Army) from Rawalpindi has already assembled around the mosque. Ambulances have been fully stocked. Hospitals are on alert. An ultimatum for time has been given (3.30 PST… NOW!). The entire area has been cordoned off.
Here is a news clip from ARYOne, broadcast earlier.
In an article written last week for The News, I had argued that inaction was not a solution and because of so many delays and policies of apeasement some confrontation was now becoming inevitable.
This episode [i.e., the Chinese massage parlor case] will further embolden the already violence-prone brigands at the two madressahs and we are likely to see an escalation in their demands as well as their tactics. Meanwhile, the government has once again demonstrated an inability and/or unwillingness to act decisively. The much-cherished ‘writ of the state’ continues to rot in tatters.
This, it seems, is what happened when earlier the Lal Masjid management incited this escalation in response to the government’s build-up of force around the mosque. In that article, I had gone on to argue that:
Just like standing still in the middle of the road at the sight of the blinding lights of a truck speeding towards it does not save the life of the stunned deer, doing nothing about this escalating crisis out of fear that doing anything will only make things worse is not going to help the government, or Pakistan. Something needs to be done, and done fast.
I had called in the article for the government to “act to judiciously dismantle militancy at Lal Masjid.” This situation has to be responded to. But the key word remains “act judiciously.” What is really important is how that action is taken. Further bloodshed should be avoided. At least minimized. One hopes that any action is intelligent action and all steps are taken to minimize loss of life. Not just because one does not wish to create needless ‘martyrs.’ Much more so because all life – and everyone’s life – is precious.
The technologies to undertake low casualty offensives are available. The will and sagacity to do so is needed. The test for the government – acting with force in the very center of the Federal Capital – is not only what it does, but how it does it.
Photo credit: Associated Press, B.K. Bangash.
Remeber these two Maulanas prefer to be Ghazis (bhagoray)…never like to be shaheed.
Well done MB.
you have so eloquently put on paper all that i wanted to but could not.
So much has unfolded in the past two days… for starters we as Pakistanis can now relate to the American obsession over the OJ Simsons car escape and its live coverage.
The man who asked so many of the innocent students to toe his version of Islam, put himself and the entire cadre of Mullahs to shame by escaping the way he did. It was funny and yet sad to hear the way students have been brain washed in that compound … one female student said … ” if Aziz Bhatti could blow himself in enemy territory and was proclaimed a ‘shaheed’ then why cant we as suicide bombers be called shaheed !!”
is the the distorted version of history that is taught in the Jamia Hafsa ??
More then a relegious seminary this seems like the ‘Waco Compound’ being run on the whims of a leader ( he reminds me of Himesh Reshamaya )
Some people on this forum are very vocally taking sides of the so called Molvees and keep saying why should the enlightened moderates dump all the bearded brigades together ?
For them all i have to say is , this trend is actually started by the self proclaimed relegious experts. they are the ones who have divided the society into “either you are one of us or you are the enemy of Islam”.
Any woman not wearing a burqa is promiscious
Any man not wearing a beard is westeren influenced anti islam.
Come on people , learn from the chicken hearted cowardly escape and then the half hearted non valid justification of that act by the so called schion of Islam … aunty aziz.
Who has given the man with a beard the right to dictate whether my Islam is lesser then his ??
Who gets to decide which one of us are better humans in the eyes of Allah ?
What makes them the leaders of Islam and its teachings?
Am i not answerable for my deeds just teh way they are for thiers ?
Why is Islam from a relegion of peace being turned into a militant and non tolerant ?
why do they can dictate the relegious values according to thier understanding of the Quran and i am supposed to listen to them ,
why cant they tolerate if my understanding are different from thiers.
Thumbs up to MB. Keep up the good posts…..
People who are calling this smokescreen and worrying that CJP issue has been sidelined for now (I am sure we will be hearing about it again very soon), would they really have preferred that this Lal Masjid situation have continued? I also do not like Musharraf and I very much care about the CJP situation, but I care much much more about Pakistan and this situation was very dangerous for the future of Pakistan.