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BBC: Pakistan warns mosque militants (The Red Mosque...10 recently killed ...)
BBC ^ | Wednesday, 4 July 2007, 00:08 GMT 01:08 UK | BBC Staff

Posted on 07/03/2007 9:36:55 PM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach

Pakistan warns mosque militants

Gunman with women students at Islamabad mosque

The mosque's male and female students took part in the stand-off

Pakistan has ordered militant students barricaded in a mosque in Islamabad to lay down their arms, after at least 10 people died in clashes at the site.

A curfew has been imposed around the Lal Masjid (Red Mosque) and electricity to the complex has been cut off.

Pakistan's interior ministry has accused mosque leaders of treachery and of "tarnishing the image of Islam".

Armed students at the mosque and linked seminaries have defied authorities for months in a campaign for Islamic law.

The mosque and two religious schools attached to it - one for men, the other for women - have recently been the focus of several confrontations with the Pakistani authorities.

These have been provoked by the mosque's kidnapping of police officers and of people accused by religious leaders of involvement in prostitution.

Deserted roads

At a press conference at 0130 local time (2130 GMT) on Wednesday morning, Pakistan's Minister of State for the Interior, Zafar Iqbal Warraich, said an indefinite curfew had been imposed around the mosque.

An armoured personnel carrier... was met by a hail of fire



He said police, army and paramilitary units had taken up positions around the complex, with orders to shoot on sight anyone leaving the mosque carrying a weapon.

Members of the mosque administration and students who surrendered their weapons would be offered an amnesty, Mr Warraich said.

Both Mr Warraich and Information Minister Mohammad Ali Durrani said there were no imminent plans to storm the mosque.

According to the BBC's Syed Shoaib Hasan, who visited the mosque after midnight, the roads around the building were deserted but for paramilitary troops.

Injured

Fighting around the Lal Masjid raged throughout much of Tuesday.

Location map


Profile: Red mosque

A soldier, two students and a journalist were among the dead. More than 140 people were hurt in the violence, officials said.

According to our correspondent, a ceasefire was eventually negotiated with the help of a politician from the MMA, a coalition of Islamic parties.

At the height of the violence, regular police and paramilitary units ringing the mosque compound were replaced by what appeared to be special forces, our correspondent says.

Ambulances and journalists were told to move further away from the scene.

People fled from busy shopping areas as masked students traded fire with security forces. Dozens of other students - mostly armed with sticks and petrol bombs - patrolled the area.

'Security links'

Critics have attacked the government for failing to enforce its authority in the capital.

President Musharraf has previously said security forces cannot raid the mosque for fear of reprisal suicide attacks.

BBC correspondents say it is thought the mosque has powerful friends in the security services, which has prevented the authorities from taking action.

But the fact that people have now been killed in the stand-off suggests the situation may be turning against the mosque leaders, our correspondents say.



TOPICS: Extended News; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: islam; lalmasjid; pakistan; redmosque; taliban
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1 posted on 07/03/2007 9:37:00 PM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach

more pictures

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1860507/posts


2 posted on 07/03/2007 9:39:37 PM PDT by Flavius
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To: SandRat; NormsRevenge; Grampa Dave; SierraWasp; blam; SunkenCiv; Marine_Uncle; Allegra; onyx; ...

News ping....


3 posted on 07/03/2007 9:42:30 PM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach (The DemonicRATS believe ....that the best decisions are always made after the fact.)
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To: Flavius

Thanks....


4 posted on 07/03/2007 9:44:36 PM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach (The DemonicRATS believe ....that the best decisions are always made after the fact.)
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach

Thanks, this one seems headed toward a messy ending.


5 posted on 07/03/2007 9:52:00 PM PDT by NormsRevenge (Semper Fi ... For want of a few good men, a once great nation was lost.)
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To: NormsRevenge
"Thanks, this one seems headed toward a messy ending.

I hope it's real messy -- with the Islamist crazies getting asses kicked.

6 posted on 07/03/2007 9:57:42 PM PDT by StormEye
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach

the middle ages are coming...female madrassa (witches)students

7 posted on 07/03/2007 9:58:40 PM PDT by Fred Nerks (FAIR DINKUM!)
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To: Fred Nerks

That is a surreal image....


8 posted on 07/03/2007 10:03:25 PM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach (The DemonicRATS believe ....that the best decisions are always made after the fact.)
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To: Fred Nerks
Another one from the link at post #2
9 posted on 07/03/2007 10:05:31 PM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach (The DemonicRATS believe ....that the best decisions are always made after the fact.)
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach

it looks like a scene from The Omega Man!


10 posted on 07/03/2007 10:06:32 PM PDT by sheik yerbouty ( Make America and the world a jihad free zone!)
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach

a little bit Monty Python, a little bit nightmare...


11 posted on 07/03/2007 10:11:12 PM PDT by Fred Nerks (FAIR DINKUM!)
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach
Thanks E.
Pakistan has ordered militant students barricaded in a mosque in Islamabad to lay down their arms, after at least 10 people died in clashes at the site.
The proper way to conduct the operation is to holler (in the local language), "you are ordered to lay down your arms and come out with your hands on top of your heads," but with the sound of gov't small arms fire drowning out the end of it as the troops storm in. Or just detonate explosives and demolish the structure with the stupid bastards still inside, then bulldoze what's left of it, and them.
12 posted on 07/03/2007 10:14:06 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (Time heals all wounds, particularly when they're not yours. Profile updated July 3, 2007.)
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach
At the height of the violence, regular police and paramilitary units ringing the mosque compound were replaced by what appeared to be special forces, our correspondent says.

I'm thinking the gloves are off. Things could get very interesting here. It isn't the young radicals who will be the focus of the upshot - they'll mostly be dead by then - but the ones who prodded them to the act. Those will be notable by their absence and should they turn up, say, in Iran, then things are going to get very interesting indeed.

13 posted on 07/03/2007 10:15:20 PM PDT by Billthedrill
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach

Islamics should refuse to engage in Jihad unless the Imams show the way first.


14 posted on 07/03/2007 10:20:51 PM PDT by Paladin2 (Islam is the religion of violins, NOT peas.)
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To: SunkenCiv

Use snipers to pick off as many Islamists as possible. Then offer a cease fire to let the wounded and the women out for medical care. Then tear gas and storm the place.


15 posted on 07/03/2007 10:23:07 PM PDT by rmlew (Build a wall, attrit the illegals, end the anchor babies, Americanize Immigrants)
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To: SunkenCiv; Ernest_at_the_Beach

that fat one with the cell phone - needs one right between the eyes.

16 posted on 07/03/2007 10:27:33 PM PDT by Fred Nerks (FAIR DINKUM!)
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To: Fred Nerks

Great suggestion.

I wonder though, whether they’d all panic and run out screaming if someone deployed that big pig balloon Pink Floyd used for the “Animals” tour?


17 posted on 07/03/2007 10:46:47 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (Time heals all wounds, particularly when they're not yours. Profile updated July 3, 2007.)
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To: rmlew

...and as the finishing touch, have a bell go off each time one gets hit, like the metal ducks at the carnival...

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1860615/posts?page=9#9


18 posted on 07/03/2007 10:48:12 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (Time heals all wounds, particularly when they're not yours. Profile updated July 3, 2007.)
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To: Fred Nerks

No Burkas for my grandaughters...they look like witches outfits....


19 posted on 07/03/2007 11:02:56 PM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach (The DemonicRATS believe ....that the best decisions are always made after the fact.)
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To: Fred Nerks
Islamic soothsayers, the "witches", were actually those burned by the Spanish rulers during the inquestions that followed after Spain finally overthrew their brutal Mohammadan invaders after 200 years of occupation.

Islam really hasn't changed at all in that regard, they still believe in "Jinn" (demons and such) magic spells, etc. You even see much mention of it in Ishaq's sira, "Sirat Rasul Allah"(the life of Mohammad) The only source of all that is known about Mohammad and therefore Islam. No Mohammad- no Islam. Any Muslim who denies Ishaq's writings has to then deny Islam and Mohammad, not only because all that is known about Mohammad comes from Ishaqs work, butr because all other Islamic "scholars" after Ishaq base their material on Ishaq work as well.

20 posted on 07/03/2007 11:27:33 PM PDT by Nathan Zachary
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