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.
Regrettably, this was probably the right thing to do; the fact remains that something should have been done a lot earlier when the situation could have been more peaceably brought under control.
The “Lal Masjid” had become “masjid-e-zarrar”. No Islamic teaching at anytime, the time of the Prophet(SAW) no less, has ever justified a state within a state. Many Islamic scholars of note had remonstrated with the belligerent clerics and had failed to dissuade them from this dangerous path.
One can only hope and pray that there is minimum violence and loss of life. Sadly, in Pakistan, there is excessive tendency by all and sundry to overplay their hand; and this includes the government.
It is difficult to say whether the crisis was deliberately allowed to build up to his point by the government.
My fear is that this government has been prone to unmitigated disasters for sometime, and they may yet snatch ignominy from jaws of considered restraint in this instance as well.
It also remains to be seen how this action, and its aftermath, plays out with the opposition. They had been very critical, and justifiably so, when nothing was being done. They were joined in this quandary by many cool headed segments of the civil society. Now that something is finally being done, will they still find ways to negatively politicize it, and blame the government? Of course, the government could, and should, have taken the opposition into confidence before mounting this action.
Let us all pray and hope for the best.
Mazhar Butt Sahib, we are sick of these sermons. Please spare us. And we already have more mosques and madrassas (mostly built illegally on encroached land) than we need.
this may not be so simple.
The girls are wearing burka, and are ready to become suicide bombers if the masjid is attacked.
how would one know whether they are coming out to surrender or take everyone for a ride?
I think most important thing is to remove their human shield. There are 2 thousand girls inside these campuses.
without water and electricity they can be forced to let womens leave. After that they should be given quick deadline and opeartion should be conducted with “armor” vehicles and gunships.
I think the government strategy would be to keep the lal masjid surrounded and keep on shelling it so that they are exhausted to the point of surrendering. If this is indeed the case, we won’t be seeing a major offensive, not in the next few hours at least. The standoff could even continue for a few days before coming to a conclusion.