ISLAMABAD, 17 April 2007 — The presence yesterday morning of a large number of police around Jamia Hafsa madrasa and the Red Mosque (Lal Masjid) in Islamabad created panic and fuelled rumors of an imminent commando action on the mosque complex.

Sector G locality of the federal capital where the mosque is located was tense till the afternoon when finally the Interior Ministry intervened to reduce tension. Riot police in combat gear had erected barriers to block the main roads leading to the madrasa while stick-wielding madrasa students, both boys and girls, had taken position outside the building, lending credence to the rumor of an imminent showdown.

Abdul Rashid Ghazi, brother of Abdul Aziz, the prayer leader who had announced the setting up of a Shariah court in the mosque, told Arab News the mosque authorities had informed Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, the president of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League (Q), of the situation and he promised that no action would be taken. According to Aziz, Shujaat said the government wanted to resolve the issue through talks.

The prayer leader has said the establishment of the Shariah court is aimed at enforcing justice and he has threatened to retaliate with suicide bombings if the government tried to shut it down forcibly.

Lal Masjid’s compound has taken on the appearance of a rebel camp in recent weeks, with young men armed with sticks guarding the entrances. Women, also carrying staves, roam the school’s grounds, and two or three men have been seen with guns, which the mosque leaders say are properly licensed.

Two prayer leaders at the mosque issued a fatwa against Minister of Tourism Nilofar Bakhtiar last Sunday, demanding that she be sacked, her family punish her and she be made to ask for forgiveness after pictures in the Pakistani media showed her hugging her parachute jumping instructor at a fund-raising event in France.

Hundreds of students from the madrasa attached to the mosque have been running an anti-vice campaign in Islamabad, threatening music shops and brothels. This is seen as a challenge to President Gen. Pervez Musharraf, a US ally who has pledged to eliminate extremism.

Nilofar rejected the fatwa saying she had only received a pat from her instructor for her jump in France last month to raise money for victims of the devastating earthquake in Pakistan in 2005. “I made a commitment to paraglide for the earthquake victims when I was not a federal minister. The purpose was to raise funds for the construction of 15 schools in the quake-affected areas,” the minister said.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz also came under attack from the ruling party on Sunday for “mishandling” Chaudhry’s suspension. Chaired by Shujaat, the central working committee of the party charged the Aziz government with failing to stop the judge’s case “from becoming a political issue.”

Quoting political sources, The Daily Times said the party’s deputy Secretary-General Iqbal Dar demanded the establishment of an inquiry committee to uncover the “motives” for filing the reference.

“The reference should be withdrawn for an amicable solution to the judicial crisis,” Dar said.