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Government in talks with Lal Masjid cleric

* Shujaat continuing efforts to defuse standoff amid hope for breakthrough

Staff Report

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Muslim League President Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain continued making efforts to defuse the Lal Masjid standoff till late Monday night despite failing to achieve any major breakthrough in resolving the crisis that entered its seventh day on Monday.

President Pervez Musharraf had sent a delegation of politicians and clerics led by Shujaat to negotiate with Lal Masjid deputy prayer leader Abdul Rashid Ghazi the release of several hundred students stranded in the mosque. The delegation was told to persuade Ghazi to surrender along with the militants holed up in the mosque. The president emphasised that the hostages inside the mosque must be recovered safely.

The Shujaat-led efforts suffered a set back when the delegation refused to enter the mosque and Ghazi turned down their offer to come out for talks due to security reasons. The sources said that Shujaat rushed back to meet President Musharraf to discuss the latest situation. They said that Shujaat discussed with Musharraf a proposal for general amnesty after seeking guarantees from the clerics that Ghazi had agreed to live in his ancestral village without creating trouble for the government. The sources said that the clerics delegation stayed at the surrender point as Shujaat discussed the issue with Musharraf.

“We are close to some understanding and will soon give good news to the people,” Maulana Taqi Usmani told Daily Times. Shujaat had returned to Lal Masjid after talks with Musharraf and was consulting the clerics when this report was made at 2am.

Meanwhile, the sources said that Maulana Fazlur Rehman Khalil, leader of the defunct Harkatul Mujahideen, who was included in the clerics delegation on Ghazi’s request, remained in contact with the Lal Masjid leader and conveyed the clerics’ point of view to him. Khalil is likely to hold talks with Ghazi inside the Lal Masjid.

The sources said that Ghazi had expressed reservations over including Religious Affairs Minister Ejazul Haq in the government delegation. “Ghazi was annoyed at Haq for stating that militants of banned organisations were present in Lal Masjid,” they said.

Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz confirmed that the government would allow Ghazi to be held under house arrest with his ailing mother if he surrenders and frees the hostages.

“We are trying to avoid loss of life and using all negotiating options to end this crisis, including house arrest for Ghazi and his old mother,” Aziz told reporters at Prime Minister’s House.

Earlier, a delegation of clerics met Aziz and urged him to immediately halt the operation and let them visit Lal Masjid and convince Ghazi to negotiate.

An MMA delegation led by MNAs Dr Farid Paracha and Shah Abdul Aziz was again denied permission by security forces to visit the mosque.

Meanwhile, District and Sessions Judge Mirza Rafiuz Zaman also visited the area and asked Ghazi and his followers to lay down their arms.

Though Monday was a relatively calm day, intermittent firing between security forces and Lal Masjid militants continued. A drone flew above the mosque in the early hours of Monday to gather information about the positions of the militants and the weapons in their use.

AFP adds: PM Aziz said he had a list of several “heavyweight” militants inside the mosque but refused to give their names. He said there was a hardcore of 40 extremists, led by three or four key rebels.

Security forces fired teargas and exchanged fire with the rebels in clashes earlier Monday, killing one of the mosque’s radical students, security officials said.

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