ISLAMABAD, 30 June 2007 — President Gen. Pervez Musharraf said yesterday that suicide bombers were holed up in a mosque in the capital and said extremists pose the “gravest threat” to Pakistan.
Authorities have been locked in a tense standoff for months with prayer leaders and students associated with Lal Masjid, the Red Mosque, who are pushing for imposition of Taleban-style social values in Islamabad. Prayer leaders at the mosque had threatened suicide attacks if the government used force against them.
Speaking to reporters, Musharraf said militants of Jaish-e-Mohammad, an Al Qaeda-linked group fighting Indian rule in the disputed Kashmir region, were hiding in the mosque. “They are indoctrinated people,” he told a workshop on journalism.
“There are also people associated with Jaish-e-Mohammad. They have explosives. Many of them are ready to carry out suicide attacks,” he added.
Musharraf, who survived two Al Qaeda-inspired assassination attempts, said the government had tried to resolve the standoff through negotiations to avoid bloodshed in the sprawling mosque complex, which also houses a madrasa.
“Action is ready but timing is important,” he said. “I am not a coward person ... but the issue is tomorrow you will say what have you done. There are women and children inside,” he said.
Musharraf said he was not bothered whether the opposition parties remain in the assemblies or resign. “I will go ahead with my re-election plan,” he said.
Referring to the judicial crisis, he said there was no crisis as such and the issue would be resolved by the court.
On the question of retaining the post of army chief the president said it would be decided taking into account the security environment in the country.
Lal Mosque has long been known as a headquarters of pro-Taleban radicals in Islamabad but trouble began in January when girl students attached to the mosque occupied a library next to their madrasa to protest over a campaign to remove mosques built illegally on state land.
In March, students abducted three Pakistani women they accused of running a brothel and held them for several days before forcing them to confess and releasing them.
They have also abducted and briefly held policemen, and warned video shops to stop selling Western and Indian films they deemed obscene.
They caused a huge embarrassment for the government last week when they abducted nine people, including six Chinese women, from a massage center, accusing them of running a brothel. The detainees were released after about 17 hours.
Maulana Abdul Aziz, chief leader of the mosque, said his followers would carry out suicide attacks if the government used force.
“If the government carried out an operation then we will follow the way of jihad. Our men and women students can carry out suicide attack as a last option,” he told Reuters, his face covered with a scarf.
