LAL-MASJID AND ATTACK

Army commander killed in line of duty at Lal Masjid Shakeel Anjum Monday, July 09, 2007  ISLAMABAD: The final operation to put down the Lal Masjid revolt is imminent as President General Pervez Musharraf on Sunday gave a go-ahead to the security forces to act decisively. The decision to wrap up the six-day siege of Lal Masjid-Jamia Hafsa complex was taken on the heels of the killing of Lt-Col Haroon Islam by militants early on Sunday morning. Musharraf called a high-level meeting on Monday morning as fresh troops started taking positions around the complex shortly before midnight on Sunday. The guns remained silent all day. An exchange of fire took place as the night fell. This was, however, not as intensive as was witnessed in the past few days. It appeared to be a lull before the storm. Announcements were made on loudspeakers by the security forces asking the Lal Masjid inmates to let them carry the injured to hospitals. Ambulances were also seen moving towards the Lal Masjid. However, none of the injured was evacuated. Earlier, deputy cleric of the Lal Masjid Maulana Abdur Rashid Ghazi while talking to a private TV channel claimed that 305 persons were killed due to the intense firing by the security forces late Saturday night. He claimed that the bodies were lying scattered in different areas of the complex.

However, ISPR spokesman Maj-Gen Waheed Arshad and Interior Ministry spokesman Brig (retd) Javed Iqbal Cheema termed the claim of the Lal Masjid cleric as false and without any basis. Ghazi called a press conference in Lal Masjid but no journalist could reach there. The administration later blocked all the mobile phone connections being used by Maulana Ghazi and his supporters in the mosque. The security agencies demolished a major portion of Jamia Hafsa complex early Sunday morning. “The whole complex will be flattened gradually within 24 hours,” the sources said. “About 150 women, children and men are being kept hostages by the militants in different rooms in the basement of the complex,” the sources claimed, quoting statements of Noor Hayat and Shah Akbar, who had escaped from the complex on Sunday. They said they had mapped the point where the innocent people were being kept hostages.

Meanwhile, officials who witnessed the killing of Lt-Col Islam said that the late colonel along with Maj Tariq was planting explosives on the boundary wall of the mosque when the extremists sprayed bullets on him. Muhammad Maqsood, guard of Maulana Abdul Rashid Ghazi, was killed in the retaliatory fire by the security forces, they added. “Two young Afghan national militants, Fidaullah, 19, commander of security wing, and Khanzada, 18, involved in different incidents of terrorism in Pakistan, fired at Lt-Col Haroon Islam and Maj Tariq,” the sources said. The police have registered FIR No 230 dated 7/13/2007 at the Aabpara Police Station on the complaint of wounded Major Tariq against Ghazi and his aides under Section 302 and 324 PPC and 6/7 ATA (anti-terrorist act) for killing the Army commando, the sources said. “Ghazi is hidden in an underground room in Lal Masjid along with his mother, Sahib Bibi, Auntie Halima (the sister of his father) and sister of his mother, Lal Bibi,” the sources claimed.

Meanwhile, the authorities have started releasing innocent persons, arrested during the last five days in the operation. “As many as 748 people have been arrested so far,” the sources said. Of them, 447 accused were in jail while 152, most of them underage, have been handed over to their parents/wards by the prime minister in Jinnah Sports Complex. Some 149 were in different police stations of Islamabad. The criteria of declaring the detained people innocent has been established by the authorities, the sources said, adding: “Three categories of detained persons have been set to fix responsibilities after the screening of the arrested people – white, grey and black. The accused placed in ‘black’ category were involved in heinous offences and would be booked under the anti-terrorist act; ‘grey’ would be booked under less serious offences while ‘white’ would be booked for minor offences under 188 PPC.” The sources said that over 20 inmates were wounded during the late Saturday night firing. “Killings during the crossfire cannot be ruled out,” they said.