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9 killed in clashes at Pakistan mosque

Nirupama Subramanian

Five-month-long stand-off erupts in bloody confrontation

— PHOTO: AFP

RUNNING BATTLE: Radical students from the Red Mosque set fire to a Government building in Islamabad on Tuesday.

ISLAMABAD: A five-month long stand-off between a militant mosque-cum-seminary in the capital and the Pakistan government erupted on Tuesday in a bloody confrontation that killed nine persons, including two paramilitary, at least two Islamist students, and a photojournalist, and 150 wounded.

Aabpara, the area where the Lal Masjid-Jamia Hafsa complex is located, turned into a battlefield as the Pakistan Rangers and students wielding automatic weapons and small arms exchanged fire late into the night.

At a press conference, deputy Interior Minister Zafar Iqbal Warraich confirmed the deaths of nine persons, including three passers-by. Many of the injured are those affected by teargas. President Pervez Musharraf summoned a late night meeting of senior Ministers, military officials and others to take stock of the situation.

The Rangers had taken position around the mosque in preparation for a possible storming last week. The deployment of the Rangers came soon after Lal Masjid students kidnapped seven Chinese nationals accusing them of running a vice-den.

The Lal Masjid, which has repeatedly challenged the writ of the Government with its programme to implement the Sharia, released the Chinese hours later. But the episode, over which Beijing made its displeasure known, may have prompted Islamabad to decide on stronger action against the mosque.

But the confrontation pre-empted it. Mr. Warraich said it began when a mob of 100 armed students from the mosque tried to attack a government building and a security forces picket near the complex. The security forces fired teargas to disperse the mob, he said. The firing began soon after, with both sides claiming the other started it.

The firing continued intermittently from 1 pm until late at night, interrupted only by a short ceasefire for evening prayers. The security forces also fired several rounds of teargas to disperse the swarming students but with little success.

The students stoned government buildings where the Rangers were suspected to be positioned, threw petrol bombs and also set on fire one of the buildings, sending explosions shuddering through the mainly residential neighbourhood as cars parked inside went up in flames.

The clashes spread into the residential parts of Aabpara later. As night fell, there was a blackout in the area but the firing continued, panicking the residents.

The neighbourhood, a short distance from the high security diplomatic enclave, the President’s office, the National Assembly and the Supreme Court, continued to be in the grip of severe tensions late into the night.

Throughout, clerics of the mosque made repeated calls for jihad on the mosque’s the public address system, and exhorted the people in the neighbourhood to fight for Islam. Interior Minister Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao was out of the country. Interior Secretary Syed Kamal Shah was rushing from New Delhi, where he was participating in the composite dialogue talks, on Tuesday night.

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