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Govt will act against every madrassa promoting extremism, warns PM

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz has warned that madrassas promoting militancy and extremism will face the same sort of action taken against the militants of Lal Masjid and Jamia Hafsa.

Briefing journalists at Prime Minister’s House on Wednesday, Mr Aziz said the government would take “stern action” against any madrassas involved in illegal activities, as it had against Lal Masjid and Jamia Hafsa. He said madrassas which were functioning according to the law need not worry, but madrassas promoting militancy and extremism would not be tolerated.

The prime minister said the exact number of causalities among the militants in Lal Masjid and Jamia Hafsa would be ascertained after security force sweep the mosque and madrassa compound.

He said no bodies of women and children had been found inside the complex and the probability such bodies would be found during the clearing operation was low. “The major group of women was all together and came out all together,” he said.

“Saving the lives of maximum people was the centre-point of the government’s strategy and with the safe retrieval of 1,300 children, women and men from Lal Masjid and Jamia Hafsa, we have been successful in our objective.”

He said the government had credible information that a “certain category of people who were not really students”, ie, hardcore militants, had been holed up inside the mosque before the operation began. Mr Aziz said the militant students had bought the action upon themselves by challenging the writ of the government. “The people from this complex tried to enforce their own brand of laws and rules.”

He said the government had made every effort to resolve the issue through talks, but the Lal Masjid and Jamia Hafsa administration did not respond positively. “The intransigence of a few extremists hampered every attempt for a peaceful solution of the issue and the government was compelled to launch the operation,” said the prime minister.

He said the extremists in Jamia Hafsa had damaged the image of the country and Islam.

He said the government had introduced madrassa reforms to ensure that religious schools also include formal education in their curricula. Mr Aziz on Wednesday also visited security personnel injured in the Lal Masjid operation at the Combined Military Hospital (CMH) in Rawalpindi. app

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