Re: Lal Masjid Siege Thread - Operation Silence (merged)
Abdul Rasheed Ghazi and his burqa-posh brother are nothing but terrorists who were hijacking due process of the law to enforce their own narrow-vision of Islam.
The children (girls and boys) in these institutions are mostly brain-washed. But still I abhored the actions of the buqa-clad women who were running around raiding property, kidnapping and commiting acts of violence against other people. I am sure they had a reasonable point of view (though I may not agree with it) but the way they were going about it was just horribly inappropriate.
Lal Masjid was protected and encouraged during the time of Zia-ul-Haq and its illegal activities were ignored all the way up to now. All governments are responsible for this, but the biggest jerk is the Musharraf government (and its assorted ministers etc) who masterminded and prolonged the issue to distract public (I am not going into the reasons why they would do that).
Unlike some people who think this is all topi drama, I do believe that this is/was a real crisis. Innocent lives are lost (and are being lost). A school that housed and served (dubiously it may be) hundreds of children (including many orphans) is lost. A masjid is completely desecrated and destroyed and the name of our country is again dragged into the international media for a terrorist-related/unfavorable situation.
I am sure Musharraf will beat his chest and portray himself as the last ray of hope to protect Pakistan from rabid Mullahs and our armed forces/rangers did everything they were asked to do... but honestly, this situation has no winners. With hundreds upon hundreds of people dead, any one who even remotely thinks that anyone has come out in a favorable light after this 'show of force' by the government is just fooling themselves.
Past is past. Whats done is done. I am sure there will be investigations and inquiries and medals will be given out and people will keep commenting on this "saniha". My main concern is how will this event radicalize other segments of our society. I don't want my country to fall into the hands of extremists and radical clerics. Unfortunately, after what has happened in the last 2 weeks, I am not sure how we will be able to avoid going down that path.