Low-flying chopper enrages madrassa pupils in Pakistani capital
Hundreds of stick-wielding religious students swarmed roads in Islamabad on Monday after a military helicopter apparently carried out aerial surveillance of their mosque compound. **The army chopper hovered over the Lal Masjid, or Red Mosque, for more than 15 minutes as at least two men clinging to it took pictures, the mosque’s deputy administrator Abdul Rashid Ghazi told journalists at a hurriedly called press conference. **Lal Masjid and two of its affiliated madrassas, or religious schools, have been at loggerheads with the government for nearly three months over the demolition of illegal mosques in the capital. “This action has infringed the privacy of our girl students and violated the basic human rights,” Ghazi said. The aerial survey came as military commanders began a four-day meeting in the garrison town of Rawalpindi to discuss the internal and external security situation, and a day later thousands of people protested in the port city of Karachi against the situation created by the Lal Masjid’s clerics.
Burka-clad students armed with bamboo sticks in January stormed a state-owned children’s library, which is located in between their seminary and the Red Mosque, after the local authorities brought down two illegally-built mosques that were hindering road expansion projects. Seeking an apology from President Pervez Musharraf, who also commands the Pakistani military, the hard-line cleric announced immediate suspension of talks with politicians, who were mediating between the local authorities and the mosque administration. “The negotiations were moving forward but it has become impossible to continue these after today’s episode,” Ghazi noted.
Chief of the ruling Pakistani Muslim League party Chaudhry Shujaat, who is known for his diplomatic approach to conflicts, is in direct contact with the Lal Masjid administration to end the stand-off prevailing since January 20. The radical clerics earlier this month introduced a self-declared Islamic court on the mosque premises, challenging the writ of the Musharraf government that is already drawing international criticism for not effectively clamping down on growing militancy in the country. The madrassa students have also been carrying out morality patrols in Islamabad and are issuing warnings to the owners of audio and video stores to close their businesses as they were promoting obscenity.
Tens of thousands of people rallied on Sunday in the largest city of Karachi against the enforced anti-vice campaign by the fundamentalists in the country’s capital. The protest call was given by the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) party that rules the city and is part of the coalition government at the national level. MQM chief Altaf Hussain, who lives in self-exile in London, addressed the rally participants by phone and termed the clerics’ activities religious terrorism. Hussain said: “Let us pledge today that we won’t be fooled by these people, who are using the name of Islam for achieving their political objectives.”
Re: Low-flying chopper enrages madrassa pupils in Pakistani capital
Pakistani students say government ‘gassed mosque’
Baton-wielding students from a radical mosque in the Pakistani capital took to the streets Monday after alleging that the government had sprayed them with irritant gases from a helicopter. Young men from a school attached to the Lal Masjid, or Red Mosque, blocked nearby roads, and their female counterparts shouted slogans from the roof after a chopper circled low overhead for around 15 minutes, witnesses said. Chief cleric Abdul Aziz, who earlier this month threatened to launch suicide attacks if Pakistani security forces raid the mosque, said the helicopter was part of a “mock operation” by the government. “An army helicopter performed a low-level flight over the mosque for more than 15 minutes and discharged gases, which caused suffocation and irritation in the eyes of everyone present in the premises,” Aziz told AFP. His deputy and younger brother, Abdul Rashid Ghazi, said that a “white substance” was released by the helicopter but did not say what the substance was. Local officials dismissed the allegation. “There is nothing going on and whatever the mosque administration said is a figment of their imagination,” a district official said on condition of anonymity.
The government of military ruler President Pervez Musharraf has been in negotiations with the mosque’s leaders despite public pressure to tackle what has been described as “Talibanisation” in the heart of the capital. Earlier this month the mosque set up a self-styled Islamic court, which promptly issued a “fatwa” against the female tourism minister for hugging a French paragliding instructor after a charity jump. Male and female students from schools attached to the mosque have launched anti-vice patrols targeting local music and video shops, as well as briefly kidnapping two policemen and three women including an alleged brothel owner. They have also refused to vacate a government children’s library that they occupied in January in protest at the demolition of several mosques that authorities said were built on illegally occupied land.
Re: Low-flying chopper enrages madrassa pupils in Pakistani capital
^
Yup, more hot air from the mullahs. But they do seem rather edgy, or rather scared out of their pants.
let me see, head sumo went into hiding, retracted a fatwa, etc etc. I think they are beginnign to realize that qaum only supports morons to a level, and they surpassed that level and are now being loathed by most and even those of similar mindsets have distanced themselves.
if there is a police action, yeh saray mustanday bhi burqay pehan kar bhagain gaye..learning from their role models the taleban. running away in burqas. hahah
Re: Low-flying chopper enrages madrassa pupils in Pakistani capital
let me see, head sumo went into hiding, retracted a fatwa, etc etc. I think they are beginnign to realize that qaum only supports morons to a level, and they surpassed that level and are now being loathed by most and even those of similar mindsets have distanced themselves.
if there is a police action, yeh saray mustanday bhi burqay pehan kar bhagain gaye..learning from their role models the taleban. running away in burqas. hahah
Re: Low-flying chopper enrages madrassa pupils in Pakistani capital
maybe it was talcum powder to decrease the badboo
lol I have a better idea... since the JI/JUI aka MMA opposed this madrassah's course of action, we should 'taang' maulana diesel form a helicopter (facing up) and launch aerial hawaa from his rear after feeding him 2 tonnes of halwa mixed with leaded diesel! Sarey bhaag jayen gey wahaan sey! While hes doing that, he can sing 'hawwa ka sipahi hoon shaheen hoon mey'...
