ISLAMABAD: Fifteen explosions rocked the areas surrounding Lal Masjid and Jamia Hafsa as a forceful operation against those present in the building started at about 3:35 am early Thursday morning, private TV channels reported.
The front wall of Jamia Hafsa was demolished as commandoes stormed the building. The intensity of one of the blasts was such that its sound was heard four kilometers away. The windows of the nearby buildings were shattered by the explosions.
An exchange of intense firing also took place for 10 minutes. Mortar shells were fired for the first time in the two-day standoff. The firing stopped at 3:50 am and an announcement was made on loudspeakers asking the Lal Masjid and Jamia Hafsa inmates to vacate the buildings otherwise force would be used against them.
Immediately after the announcement two more explosions were heard and firing restarted. The security forces also resorted to heavy tear-gas shelling. As many as three APCs also participated in the operation.
The firing stopped after 20 minutes to give time to the students to come out. However, none of the students came out in the next 10 minutes. Maulana Rashid Ghazi along with hundreds of students is in the Lal Masjid.
The operation started as Azans for Fajr prayers started. Announcements were made in several mosques near the Lal Masjid asking Maulana Rashid Ghazi to surrender.
Maulana Abdur Rasheed Ghazi told a TV channel that Lal Masjid and Jamia Hafsa have been bombed heavily by the security forces. He alleged several students were killed. He also claimed that he had shifted to a safer place.
Maulana Abdur Rashid Ghazi, Lal Masjid cleric, had earlier agreed to surrender along with hundreds of Taliban and Talibat on Wednesday night. He also agreed to hand over weapons to the administration.
Earlier, about 1,200 students had surrendered. In the day Maulana Abdul Aziz, main cleric and commander of the Lal Masjid brigade, was arrested while trying to escape in a Burqa, a day after he declared Jihad for the enforcement of an Islamic system in the country.
Maulana Abdul Aziz was accompanied by his wife, Umme Hassan, and a group of Talibat. The security forces shifted the Maulana to an unknown place for questioning. A group of veiled Talibat came out of Jamia Hafsa and started marching towards the point where a scanning gate was installed for checking.
Doubt was created when some veiled Talibat avoided walking through the scanning gate. The police personnel deployed at the point informed their superiors and called the Rangers for help.
Rangers officials — Lance Naik Muhammad Asghar and Lance Naik Muhammad Afzal — compelled the Talibat group to pass through the scanning gate. The Talibat started shouting to counter the alarm raised by the scanning machine because Maulana Aziz was carrying a gun with him.
The lady security forces, however, checked and found out that the ‘lady’ wearing a Burqa was Maulana Aziz.
The Taliban and Talibat of the Lal Masjid seminaries started coming out of the premises to surrender in great numbers after the failed escape by their commander. Earlier, the authorities postponed the operation planned at 3:30 am and decided to give more chance to the besieged students to opt for a surrender, sources said.
The government adopted an effective strategy and succeeded in forcing the students to come out of the premises voluntarily. Official sources told The News that at 9:30 am the security forces started announcing on loudspeakers that the inmates who would surrender themselves before the administration would be released under an amnesty.
A first group of about 40 males appeared from the Lal Masjid at about 10.10 am and surrendered before the security forces, the sources said. After a pause of about 30 minutes another group of 35 people gave up before the administration.
The Talibat started coming out individually with their parents or guardians. "The first group of Talibat, 19 in number, accompanying Maulana Abdul Aziz in disguise, came out to surrender but the Maulana was exposed during checking by a group of lady police officials", said official sources.
The security agencies have cordoned off the area and tightened the noose around Lal Masjid. Three gunship helicopters kept flying over the area for aerial surveillance. The security forces also fired tear-gas shells and sounds of firing were also heard intermittently.
An activist of Lal Masjid, Salahuddin, 25, was killed and five others were wounded during a late night crossfire, Poly Clinic hospital sources said.The process of surrender continued till late at night.
As many as 26 criminal cases under the Anti-terrorist Act (ATA) including charges of murder and anti-state activities were registered against Maulana Abdul Aziz and his wife Umme Hassan and Maulana Abdur Rasheed Ghazi during the last one year and they were declared proclaimed offenders by the courts of law. AFP adds: Law enforcing personnel on Wednesday shot dead an apparently mentally ill man during a curfew around the besieged Lal Masjid, an AFP photographer said. Another 16 people have been confirmed killed in the violence.
Please, "pray the news" (and please, protect your Pakistani Christians. Thank you!)
