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'We will not surrender'
07/07/2007 08:46 - (SA)
Islamabad - Heavy gunfire and explosions
rocked Islamabad early on Saturday as Islamist students holed up
in a mosque battled Pakistani security forces after the
militants' leader defied government demands to surrender.
The fortified Lal Masjid or Red Mosque compound has been
under siege by hundreds of troops and police since Tuesday when
months of tensions boiled over into clashes between Muslim
clerics and religious students and security forces. At least 19
people have been killed.
"We can die but we will not surrender. We're not
terrorists," said Abdul Rashid Ghazi, chief cleric leading the
militants told Reuters early on Saturday, speaking over the
crack of rifle fire.
Smoke and the orange glow of fire rose from the mosque early
on Saturday as heavy gunfire and explosions rocked the city. It
was not immediately clear what was burning.
Water, gas and power to the mosque have been cut and food
was said to be getting scarce.
Threat to unleash suicide bombers
Tension between authorities and religious leaders at the
mosque had been rising since January when students, most of whom
in their 20s and 30s, launched a campaign to press for action
against what they see as vice.
They kidnapped people they accused of involvement in
prostitution, intimidated shopkeepers selling Western videos and
abducted policemen and threatened to unleash suicide bombers if
they were suppressed.
Moderate politicians and the media had urged President
Pervez Musharraf to intervene to end the standoff.
Musharraf has
not commented publicly on the siege but has urged security
agencies to allow time for parents to take children out of a
madrasa, or school, in the compound.
On Friday, gunmen fired from a roof-top under the flight
path from Islamabad's military airport as Musharraf was flying
off to inspect flood damage in the south.
An intelligence officer, speaking on condition of anonymity,
said the shots were an unsuccessful attempt on the president's
life.
But the government said there appeared to be no link
between the shooting and Musharraf's flight.
Sense of foreboding
US ally Musharraf survived two assassination attempts by
al Qaeda-linked militants in 2003.
Adding to a sense of foreboding over risks posed to
stability by militants in nuclear-armed Pakistan, a suicide
bomber killed six soldiers on Friday in a northwest region where
the Islamists in the mosque have allies.
Many Pakistanis welcomed the government's move against a
movement reminiscent of the Taliban in neighbouring Afghanistan,
and symptomatic of the religious extremism seeping into cities
from tribal border areas.
Interior Ministry Secretary Syed Kamal Shah appealed to
Ghazi to give up and said he would be treated humanely.
"There are many precious lives in his hands?he should
show courage and come out," Shah said. "If he is concerned about
his safety, we are ready to give any guarantees."
But Ghazi said he and the followers were willing to lay down
guns but would never accept arrest: "That's final, I can't
change it."
'Forced to stay'
He also said three student were killed on Friday but a
paramilitary force commander denied that.
About 1 200 students have left the mosque since Tuesday but
only a trickle of about 20 came out on Friday. Most were whisked
away but one boy said older students were forcing younger ones
to stay.
Food was running out and the stench from dead bodies hung in
the air, Ashraf Swati, 15, told Reuters.
Authorities say they have blasted holes in the compound's
walls to enable people to flee.
Ghazi rejected accusations he was keeping women and children
as human shields.
Ghazi's elder brother and chief cleric, Abdul Aziz, was
caught on Wednesday trying to flee disguised in a burqa. He
later called on followers to give up. Aziz said there were 850
students inside, Ghazi said 1 900.
- Reuters
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