Pakistan's mosque fire
spreads By Syed Saleem Shahzad
KARACHI - Pakistani officials have denied
television reports that President General Pervez
Musharraf's plane was shot at on Friday as it took
off from a military airfield in Rawalpindi, the
capital Islamabad's twin city.
It is
strongly suspected that the officials are covering
up the incident. But what they can't cover up is
the turmoil that is spreading across the country
in the wake of the government's
decision to forcibly seek out
Taliban and al-Qaeda assets in the radical Lal
Masjid (Red Mosque)in Islamabad.
Since the
mosque was cordoned off on Tuesday and subjected
to bombardment, more than 30 people have been
killed and scores injured. Thousands of students
have fled the mosque and nearby seminaries for men
and women.
Several hundred people remain
in the mosque under the leadership of Abdul Rashid
Ghazi, who said on Friday that he and his
followers would choose "martyrdom" rather than
arrest. A short time earlier, the government
rejected his request for safe passage out of the
mosque. Ghazi's firebrand brother, Maulana Abdul
Aziz, was apprehended outside the mosque on
Wednesday while wearing a woman's veil.
Lal Masjid has strong links to radicals in
the tribal areas on the border with Afghanistan
and officials have all along feared any action
against the mosque would ignite these areas. There
have already been reports of attacks on the
military and government offices, including four
security forces killed in an attack in the
Chakdarra district of North-West Frontier
Province.
For this reason, Pakistani
decision-makers late on Thursday night reviewed
their rigid operations against Lal Masjid, even
though their efforts have been applauded by
international leaders. Eventually, though, the
idea of safe passage for those still inside was
rejected - for the time being at least.
A
key person to emerge in the crisis is Maulana Shah
Abdul Aziz, who is charged with negotiating a deal
between the military and Lal Masjid. This task had
been in the hands of retired Squadron Leader
Khalid Khawaja, a one-time friend of Osama Bin
Laden, but he was arrested in mysterious
circumstances.
Aziz, an opposition member
of Parliament, is also known as the "voice of the
mujahideen" for his empathy with their struggles
in Afghanistan - he fought there himself. He is a
hero figure in his Karak constituency in
North-West Frontier Province and popular among the
mujahideen in the tribal areas.
But his
patriotism and law-abiding nature within Pakistan
make him popular with the military establishment
as well. He spoke to Asia Times Online on Thursday
evening.
Asia Times Online:
The operation on Lal Masjid is going on
with full force. There are unknown casualties,
believed to be in the dozens. How do you see this
development?
Shah Abdul Aziz:
I have given a constant message, just like
I gave one this evening. We need to understand
that we are all Pakistanis. Pakistanis should be
dealt with as Pakistanis, even if they have done
something wrong. Dealing with foreigners should be
different, if they transgress. For example, if
General Pervez Musharraf is aiming to confront the
transgression and breach of the law, he should use
force against the NATO [North Atlantic Treaty
Organization] aircraft which violate our borders
and kill innocent citizens.
I utterly
disagree with Lal Masjid, the way they took the
law of the land into their own hands, but this is
not the issue on which they have been taken on.
The issue is the accomplishment of a US agenda in
this region. Now you see statements [of
congratulation] by the British prime minister
[Gordon Brown], when we are left counting the
corpses of our brothers on both sides [security
forces and people in Lal Masjid]. We will be
hearing the lot of honors and appreciation from
[US President George W] Bush as well.
ATol: Maulana Abdul Aziz has
been arrested. Many people believe the way in
which he was arrested does not match the actions
of a person who preaches to others to sacrifice
their lives for the cause.
Aziz: This is all government
propaganda. The night Maulana Abdul Aziz was
arrested and brought to [state-run television]
PTV, I had just finished a talk show and was on
the way out with Ejazul Haq [minister for
religious affairs] and the anchor of the program.
I saw Maulana Aziz along with security officials.
He hugged me, but only touched fingers when Ejaz
tried to shake hands with him. He immediately
told me that he had been deceived. He said he was
called by a senior official of an intelligence
agency with whom he had been in touch for a long
time. Since the official could not enter the
mosque to meet him [to save his cover and
identity] he asked Maulana Aziz to come to Aabpara
police station [in walking distance of the mosque]
and asked him to dress in a burqa to avoid
being identified. [Aziz admitted that he and his
brother Ghazi had done this many times before when
they were declared wanted by the government]. But
as soon as Maulana Aziz left the mosque he was
arrested.
ATol: What
repercussions do you foresee from this operation
in other parts of the country?
Aziz: I expect a very big
reaction. I am trying my level-best to avoid a
clash between the mujahideen and our beloved
Pakistan Army. I am in contact with Abdul Rasheed
Ghazi every hour of the day, trying to persuade
him to show resilience and I talk to the
government, asking it to show restraint because if
both sides don't show prudence, a fierce storm is
heading towards us.
This evening I heard
reports of armed clashes between the security
forces and members of the TNSM
[Tehrik-i-Nifaz-i-Shariat-i-Mohammadi - a
pro-Taliban organization dedicated to the
enforcement of Islamic laws] in Swat and Dir [the
media black out such news under government
pressure]. I have sent repeated messages to the
government that it is a matter of days before a
fierce reaction emerges in our tribal area,
Balochistan [province] and other parts of
North-West Frontier Province. The mujahideen and
the army will confront each other. I am requesting
everybody, but nobody is listening to me.
ATol: What is the
perspective of this conflict: is it international
or local?
Aziz: We should
think about and review what we are doing. We are
killing our own people for somebody else's cause.
Musharraf makes fun of [Afghan President Hamid]
Karzai, but I say he is a far better head of state
than Musharraf, at least he has the guts to shed
crocodile tears over [civilian] casualties because
of NATO bombardments.
Musharraf does not
even condemn NATO aggression. The ISPR
[Inter-Services Public Relations of the Pakistan
Armed Forces] shamelessly admits transgressions of
NATO aircraft and their assaults [in Pakistan] and
says that it will not allow it to happen next
time. I say that even if somebody is involved in
terrorism, it is the responsibility of our armed
forces to carry out operations, not the
foreigners.
Syed Saleem Shahzad
is Asia Times Online's Pakistan Bureau Chief. He
can be reached at saleem_shahzad2002@yahoo.com
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