Pakistani cleric urges surrender

ISLAMABAD – A radical cleric captured by security forces while fleeing in a woman’s burqa said yesterday that the nearly 1 000 followers still inside his government-besieged mosque in Pakistan’s capital should escape or surrender.

The comments by head cleric Maulana Abdul Aziz of the Red Mosque, or Lal Masjid – who also said the people still inside would not be able to hold out for long – indicated that the tense standoff in the heart of Islamabad might soon end without further bloodshed. However, gunfire erupted around the mosque after a noon (07h00 GMT) deadline demanding a total surrender passed.Four helicopters hovered over the area.Authorities barred journalists from entering the area.The city’s top administrator, Khalid Pervez, indicated the periodic bursts of gunfire, a series of pre-dawn explosions and deployment of helicopters were deliberate ploys to escalate tension, rattle nerves and induce surrender.”Explosives are part of our operational strategy.It is aimed at ensuring minimum loss and achieving our objective,” he said.Aziz’s brother, Abdul Rashid Ghazi, who remains inside the mosque, told The Associated Press in a telephone interview that no one was being held against his or her will.”Why should we surrender? We are not criminals.How can we force those out who don’t want to leave?” said Ghazi, the mosque’s deputy leader.The Pakistani army surrounded the mosque on Wednesday, a day after at least 16 people were killed in clashes between security forces and armed activists from the mosque, whose clerics have defied the government for months with a drive to impose Taliban-style Islamic law in the city.Aziz was nabbed on Wednesday evening after a female police officer checking women fleeing the mosque tried to search his body, which was concealed by a full-length black burqa.Nampa-APHowever, gunfire erupted around the mosque after a noon (07h00 GMT) deadline demanding a total surrender passed.Four helicopters hovered over the area.Authorities barred journalists from entering the area.The city’s top administrator, Khalid Pervez, indicated the periodic bursts of gunfire, a series of pre-dawn explosions and deployment of helicopters were deliberate ploys to escalate tension, rattle nerves and induce surrender.”Explosives are part of our operational strategy.It is aimed at ensuring minimum loss and achieving our objective,” he said.Aziz’s brother, Abdul Rashid Ghazi, who remains inside the mosque, told The Associated Press in a telephone interview that no one was being held against his or her will.”Why should we surrender? We are not criminals.How can we force those out who don’t want to leave?” said Ghazi, the mosque’s deputy leader.The Pakistani army surrounded the mosque on Wednesday, a day after at least 16 people were killed in clashes between security forces and armed activists from the mosque, whose clerics have defied the government for months with a drive to impose Taliban-style Islamic law in the city.Aziz was nabbed on Wednesday evening after a female police officer checking women fleeing the mosque tried to search his body, which was concealed by a full-length black burqa.Nampa-AP

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