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Seminary students free kidnapped women after apology

Nirupama Subramanian

ISLAMABAD: The stand-off between the government and a radical seminary here ended on Thursday with its students releasing three women they had kidnapped after getting them to publicly "confess" their "sins" and ask for forgiveness.

Earlier, under an "agreement" reached with the government, the Lal Masjid mosque and its Jamia Hafsa madrasa swapped two policemen, who were also in its custody, for the two seminary teachers arrested for their suspected involvement in the kidnapping of the women.

The students alleged that the women were running a brothel and it was their mission to "cleanse" society of its vices.

On Thursday afternoon, in front of assembled journalists and hundreds of students from the seminary, the eldest of the women, Shameem, read out a statement which she later told reporters had been given to her by the madrasa authorities. She alleged she was forced to read it.

The administrator of the Jamia Hafsa women's seminary said the women had been given three choices — a trial in the federal shariat court, a trial at the madrasa by a religious elder, or a public apology and mercy plea. Ms. Shameem read out the statement saying she would not commit any more "wrongs" and begged for Allah's mercy. She, her daughter and daughter-in-law were allowed to go shortly afterwards.

After her release, she told journalists how 80 students, both men and women, tied them with ropes and white sheets and dragged them through the middle-class neighbourhood into the seminary.

`Talibanisation'

The vigilantism by the Jamia Hafsa students has shaken many people, with several newspapers saying "Talibanisation" arrived in the capital. But the opposition Pakistan Peoples Party accused the government of creating such an impression "with a view to deceiving the international community... that the choice in Pakistan is between military dictatorship and religious fanatics."

In a statement, PPP leader Naseerullah Babar said the manner in which the government "buckled under pressure" from the seminary students was "most shocking."

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