Pakistan demands 'total surrender' in mosque siege

CNN /world ^ | July 6,2007 | CNN's Syed Mohsin Naqvi contributed to this report.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Well...see #18....

[HitmanLV]

Oh well!

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

OK,...CNN is running behind.....it appears...thanks....

[expatguy]

Not only CNN, the entire world ... look on Google News and you will see what I mean

[expatguy]

We are extremely close to the end game in Pakistan - the pro-taliban forces in his government are now calling the shots - things are not good -

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Latest there is from aljazeera. :

Clashes at besieged Pakistan mosque

*************************EXCERPT*********************

A series of explosions and heavy gunfire have been heard in Islamambad after the leader of the besieged Red Mosque said he would rather die than surrender to Pakistan government forces.

Abdul Rashid Ghazi's statement came after the government rejected an earlier conditional offer he made to give himself up on Friday.

A cloud of smoke was seen rising above the mosque compound and security forces were seen moving towards the building, but officials denied that a raid was finally being launched.

Officers outside said the explosions were aimed at scaring those holed up inside into a surrender.

****************************snip****************************

The government has demanded that Ghazi and
his followers surrender unconditionally [AFP]

The siege began when the Pakistani army surrounded the area on Wednesday, a day after at least 12 people were killed in clashes between security forces and armed activists from the mosque.

Water, gas and electricity supplies have been cut and food was running out, said one of about 20 people who left the fortified compound on Friday. Another boy said older students were forcing younger ones to stay.

Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan's president, has not commented publicly on the siege but has urged security agencies to be patient and allow maximum time for parents to take children out of a madrasa, or school, in the mosque compound.

Liberal politicians had been pressing Musharraf for months to crack down on the brothers running the Red mosque and the president 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.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

From the article at AJ..............

Liberal politicians had been pressing Musharraf for months to crack down on the brothers running the Red mosque and the president accused the mosque of sheltering al-Qaeda members.

[expatguy]

Kinda makes you wonder what side Musharraf is on?

[dearolddad]

Not that I’ve ever been there, mind you.

Didn't I see you in there the same night I wasn't there?

[Shaun_MD]

Yeah, um er I mean no, complete stranger who I’ve never met. I did not see you in there with that Chinese stripper. Good day, sir.

[expatguy]

UPDATE 11:50 PM

Female representatives from Pakistan's Parliament along with a representative from Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) are now entering the mosque to convey the offer of amnesty from the government and to convince the pro-taliban militants to surrender.

..........................

An American Expat in Southeast Asia

[expatguy]

UPDATE 1:18 AM

Shots are being fired from inside the mosque and heavy gunfire is being reported in the surrounding areas. Unconfirmed reports are that armed citizens and students previously released have regrouped. Special forces are making their move. Ambulances can be heard rushing towards hospitals. Reporters are being told to move away from the area.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Thanks for the update!

[Marine_Uncle]

As usual. The press seem to get it wrong the first time around. Couple frigen machine guns a few goons smuggled to the top of an abondanded roof. But you would think the frigen Paki army started to take sides with the morons.

[Valin]

A Civil War No One Wants (Pakistan)
Strategypage ^ | 7/3/07

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1860193/posts

Pakistan is facing a civil war between the military (representing about ten percent of the population), the Islamic militants (about 30 percent) and the secular political parties (60 percent). The military groups are the most disciplined, and are well funded by a military business empire (an outgrowth of military foundations established to provide pensions and such for veterans). The Islamic militants are the most poor and ill educated, with most of their supporters in the tribal areas. The political parties are crippled by partisanship and corruption, but are currently more united and focused by a desire to avoid a religious dictatorship, or a military one. The Islamic militants are trying to use terror to take over. The political parties use large demonstrations and strikes. The military has police and troops. No one wants a civil war, but everyone wants to run the country.

(snip)

[Valin]

Fire erupts amid Pakistan’s mosque standoff
‘If they don’t surrender ... they will be killed,’ President Musharraf declares

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19644496

NBC News and news services
Updated: 1:30 p.m. CT July 7, 2007
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - An intense fire erupted Saturday at the Red Mosque and madrassa where militants and security forces have been engaged in a six-day standoff, NBC News reported.

Pakistani military forces carried out an operation earlier, and walls and infrastructure of the compound have been damaged. No further details were available regarding casualties.

The fire comes hours after President Pervez Musharraf ordered the Islamist militants barricaded inside to surrender or die, while concern grew for hundreds of women and children inside the beseiged compound in the Pakistani capital.

(snip)

[Valin]

WATANDOST: Inside News About Pakistan and its Neighborhood
Watandost in Urdu and farsi means “friend of the country”. The blog contains news and commentaries about Pakistan (and its neighbors) that are intriguing and insightful but often are not part of the news headlines. Issues related to “Islam and the West” are also covered here.

Saturday, July 07, 2007
Musharraf’s Image After the Lal Mosque Crisis

http://watandost.blogspot.com/2007/07/musharrafs-image-after-lal-mosque.html

Mosque raid boosts Musharraf image
By Aamer Ahmed Khan: BBC Urdu Service, Islamabad; July 7, 2007

Barely two weeks ago, Pakistan’s military ruler, General Pervez Musharraf, was battling for his political survival.
The war drums being beaten by the opposition at home were reaching a crescendo.

His battle with the country’s chief justice had taken a serious toll on his image as a military man who loathes the pettiness of everyday politics.

More importantly, perhaps, his Western allies seemed to be getting increasingly impatient with his seeming inability to deal decisively with Islamist extremists.

All this seems to have changed dramatically over the last three days, after Gen Musharraf gave his administration the green light for dismantling a radical seminary located in the heart of capital, Islamabad.

Major embarrassment

Jamia Hafsa - a seminary affiliated with one of the city’s oldest mosques, known as the Red Mosque - had been running circles around the Islamabad administration since the beginning of this year.

I will order action if the media promises it will not show dead bodies
Gen Musharraf

Demanding strict enforcement of Sharia (Islamic law), Red Mosque clerics had let loose moral squads on the capital to “prevent vices and promote virtue” - a concept first institutionalised by the Taleban in Afghanistan.

These moral squads, consisting of armed male and female students, were going around the city threatening music shop owners, and kidnapping women over allegations of operating brothels.

But every time they took the law into their own hands, the government had opted for negotiations, arguing that any use of force was likely to lead to bloodshed.

Emboldened by the government’s perceived pussy-footing, Red Mosque clerics kept raising their public profile until they became a major embarrassment for the government.

However, President Musharraf kept advocating restraint on the basis of intelligence reports which warned of the presence of a large number of suicide bombers inside the mosque and its affiliated seminary.

Concern in the West

The president repeatedly said if the government tried to use force, the clerics would unleash suicide bombers who could kill dozens.

“The same people including the media who are currently demanding that the government take action will then turn around and start accusing the government of killing its own people,” he said at one of his public appearances earlier this year.
“I will order action if the media promises it will not show dead bodies,” he said on another occasion.

Initially, many agreed with the president’s reasoning, but the argument started to lose weight as the Red Mosque clerics became bolder.

“The turning point clearly was the abduction of the Chinese massage parlour girls,” says a senior diplomat in Islamabad.

“We know that the Chinese sent a very strong message that they could take losses in Balochistan or the tribal belt but were not prepared to see their citizens abducted and tortured bang in the heart of the capital.”

Meanwhile, President Musharraf’s opponents were having a field day. The Red Mosque provided great support for their allegation against the president that he wasn’t sincere in battling extremism in Pakistan.

Increased attacks in Afghanistan by Pakistan-based Taleban in the first six months of the year had also started to cause concern in Western capitals.

The influential British and American media had started to revisit skeletons that President Musharraf had worked so hard to bury.

Vital role

Throughout its history, Pakistan has been known to pursue various strands of its foreign policy agenda through the use of private militias.

Thousands of Pakistan-based Islamist militants have fought against the Soviets in Afghanistan.

Pakistan’s proxy war with India over the disputed territory of Kashmir was fought almost exclusively through militant Islamist organisations.

This is a big reason why President Musharraf’s opponents have consistently accused him of being soft on Islamist radicals because they have historically worked closely with the army and are generally regarded as vital parts of the country’s foreign policy agenda.

More recently, secular opposition parties in Pakistan have accused President Musharraf of stoking Islamist radicalism in order to keep the secular groups in check.

The Red Mosque situation had become the primary fuel with which the opposition was hoping to ignite anti-Musharraf sentiments both at home and abroad.

President Musharraf must have been aware of the ire the Red Mosque was stoking up against him when he chose to move.

Senior officials in the government say he feared serious bloodshed but was prepared to risk it.

Make or break

Often described as one of the most embattled rulers in the country’s history, President Musharraf was clearly desperate for a success that could work for him both at home and abroad.

And as the Red Mosque brigade started to crumble against a determined siege by the security forces, President Musharraf must have taken several deep breaths laden with the scent of political success.

Senior officials say he is now planning to address the nation soon after the Red Mosque saga comes to a close.

It doesn’t take much to guess what he will say.

As the nation inches closer to elections later in the year and a decision from General Musharraf on his dual role as president and army chief, he will be focusing all his energies on getting just one message across: He is still the West’s best bet against radical Islam who can move decisively as and when needed.

Whatever the level of truth or reality in this assertion, it is a political reality he is desperate to create as he heads for a make-or-break phase in his eighth year in power.

posted by Hassan Abbas @ 6:20 PM 0 comments links to this

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

From the BBC:

Pakistani soldier dies in clashP>A senior soldier has been killed in the latest clashes with Islamist students barricaded inside a mosque in Pakistan's capital, Islamabad.

The army said the commando officer had been overseeing an operation to blast holes in the walls of the Red Mosque.

Troops were carrying out the attack in an attempt to allow women and children trapped inside the mosque to escape.

The militants responded with heavy fire. About 20 people have been killed since the standoff began last Tuesday.

Another soldier was wounded in the clashes. Both men belonged to the army's Special Services Group.

President Pervez Musharraf told the students they have no option but to surrender.

"If they don't surrender, they will be killed. We've shown great patience because we don't want people to be killed" he said.

He spoke on Saturday after troops outside the mosque stopped a delegation of Islamic figures from entering to negotiate with those in the complex.

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

In pictures: Siege scenes Press welcomes tactics Red Mosque Profile: Abdul Rashid Ghazi

Water and power to the mosque have been cut off and food is said to be getting scarce.

The BBC's Syed Shoiab Hasan, in Islamabad, says he has heard intermittent gunfire in the area and the boom of heavy weapons.

An increased military presence on the streets, combined with the refusal to let the political delegation through to the mosque, suggests that the government is now closing the door to negotiation, our correspondent adds.

On Saturday police also seized control of a madrassa, or religious school, several kilometres away, which is also run by clerics from the mosque.

They described the Jamia Faridia as a "powerhouse" for the mosque and said several of its students were involved in the stand-off.

Abdul Rashid Ghazi has said he and his followers are willing to lay down their guns but would rather die than surrender.

He told the BBC on Saturday that as many as 1,800 followers remain in the mosque, and claimed to have buried 30 female students in a mass grave in the compound.

More than 1,000 supporters left earlier this week under mounting pressure from security forces.

About 60 of those remaining are said to be hardliners campaigning for the imposition of strict Islamic law (Sharia) in Islamabad.

They have led a morality campaign which included the abduction of police officers and people accused of running brothels, as well as raids on music and DVD shops.