Islamabad - Administrators of a radical mosque in Islamabad
on Friday cautioned that hundreds of hard-line religious students
were ready to crack down on entertainment stores and brothels in the
Pakistani capital.
The warning was issued by the chief cleric of Lal Masjid or Red
Mosque, Maulana Abdul Aziz, while delivering a sermon to worshippers
who assembled at the mosque compound for weekly prayers.
The renewed threat came three weeks after Aziz gave a one-month
deadline to the authorities to close down brothels and audio and
video shops, as he announced the establishment of a self-declared
Islamic court in Lal Masjid.
'The deadline is running out and if (the government) does not do
something to curtail the obscene activities going on in the city then
we will take action ourselves,' the cleric said.
Even before setting the timeframe, Aziz and his younger brother,
Abdul Rashid Ghazi, last month launched an anti-vice campaign in
Islamabad using madrassa religious school students to enforce their
interpretation of Islamic laws.
Girl students of the Jamia Hafsa seminary raided a house in the
vicinity of the Red Mosque and abducted an alleged prostitute and her
three relatives and kept them at the madrassa for two days.
The abducted people were released after the woman repented
publicly, but soon after being freed she told journalists that it was
a forced confession extracted under torture.
Stick-wielding pupils accompanied by their female counterparts
also issued warnings to owners of CD and DVD shops for promoting
vulgarity.
Enforcement of Taliban-style rules in Islamabad triggered
nationwide protests by public and civil society organizations with
more than 100,000 people rallying in the port city of Karachi alone
against 'religious terrorism.'
The Red Mosque and its two madrassas have been at loggerheads with
the authorities since January 21 over the demolition of mosques in
Islamabad that were built illegally on protected state land.
The chief of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League party, Shujaat
Hussain, earlier this week said all disputes between the local
authorities and the mosque administration had been 'amicably
resolved'. But Ghazi denied any breakthrough in the deadlock.
The government of President Pervez Musharraf has come under
criticism at home and abroad for allowing extremist manifestations in
the heart of the capital.
While favouring a negotiated solution, the military leader has
said the students will not be allowed to impose their version of
Islam on society.
In turn, the Red Mosque administrators have warned of 'dire
consequences', if it is attacked by security forces and have called
upon students to be ready to carry out suicide bombings in
retaliation.
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur 
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