A children's library in Pakistan's capital Islamabad has become the frontline of a tense standoff between President Pervez Musharraf's government and Islamist extremists. Scores of burka-clad female students
| Are we sure that all of them are female? Are we sure that any of them are? |
Yesterday the library was closed to the media but a white flag with a pair of crossed swords fluttered from the roof. Bearded young men with wooden and metal staves patrolled the street outside. "If the police come, we will face them," said Noor ul-Haq, 17, who was carrying a three-pronged metal spike. "There is no greater law than Allah."
The confrontation has become a test of the government's mettle against extremists groups at a time of surging anti-state violence. The madrasa is run by Abdul Rashid Ghazi and his brother Abdul Aziz, clerics who have met Osama bin Laden and openly call on Muslims to participate in an anti-western jihad during Friday sermons. Security forces raided it after the London bombings of July 2005. Three weeks ago city authorities moved to demolish Jamia Hafsa because, like many mosques and madrasas in the capital, it was built without official permission. The standoff has acquired greater urgency after two suicide attacks - one at the upmarket Marriott Hotel, the other at the city's international airport last week.
Television pictures of a young woman carrying an AK-47 rifle inside the library shocked many Pakistanis. The police have cordoned off the streets and, according to one report, drafted a plan to forcibly end the protest using 4,500 security personnel including army rangers. Hundreds of female police officers from across Punjab province have been called to the capital. The government says it would prefer a negotiated solution. Ijaz ul-Haq, religious affairs minister, has convened a committee of Islamic scholars and city officials to help break the impasse and yesterday offered an olive branch. A smaller mosque on the city outskirts, recently demolished by authorities, would be rebuilt. "We need to find a consensus. Let the committee decide," Mr Haq told the Guardian.
But at Jamia Hafsa Mr Ghazi maintained his stance. "The government has committed a sin in trying to destroy this mosque," he said, adding that religious groups had the right to build on any public land, even if it was against the law. The preacher, who speaks fluent English, played down threats by the women to become suicide bombers if the standoff continued. "They are young and energetic; they were not serious," he said with a smile. "Students will be students." But he refused permission to interview the students, saying they might "get a little emotional".
The government's approach to Jamia Hafsa contrasts sharply with its treatment of other groups that break the law. When street traders a mile away resisted eviction, they were forcibly removed.
Analysts say the standoff indicates the government's complex relationship with extremist groups. "It's a collapse of governance when you have gun-toting mullahs refusing to allow the government to destroy an illegal structure," said Dr Ayesha Siddiqa, a defence analyst. "We allowed these characters to ... build their strongholds for two decades. Now it has become a game of negotiation."