ISLAMABAD, April 24: The government has agreed to accept all demands put forward by the Lal Masjid management, including the enforcement of Sharia in the country.
The second round of talks started on Tuesday night when Pakistan Muslim League president Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain paid a surprise visit to Lal Masjid and met its in-charge Maulana Abdul Aziz and deputy in-charge Maulana Abdul Rashid Ghazi. The PML chief assured the mosque administration and girl students of Jamia Hasfa that the government was ready to accept all their demands, including the enforcement of Sharia.
Talking to journalists after the meeting, Chaudhry Shujaat said all contentious issues between the government and Lal Masjid clerics had been settled, adding that he would tell details of the talks before the parliament on Wednesday.
Responding to a question about the situation inside the mosque, the Pakistan Muslim League president denied the presence of activists of banned outfits and illegal arms in the mosque.
President Gen Musharraf had said many times in the recent past that the mosque administration had provided shelter to suicide bombers.
Two security officials, who were made hostage by the students of Jamia Hasfa last month, had also told the media that they had seen a bulk of arms and ammunitions in the mosque.
Simply objects of worship.
| "That stuff is .. um .. for widows. Yeah. Widows. We collect money and buy ammo for 'em. They need lots o' ammo." |
About enforcement of Shariat, the PML chief said: No Muslim rejects the enforcement of the Islamic system in the country.
| Not if he wants to live in those parts, anyway. |
The ruling party chief also met two sisters who had taken refuge in Lal Masjid after being sexually abused by an influential man in Jehlum. He assured the victims that they would be provided justice and the accused would be punished.
But if they accept Sharia, isn't it the rape victims who get punished?
| Must have been eight witnesses, huh? |
He said the district police office of Jhelum would visit Lal Masjid on Wednesday and would register a case against the accused, Azhar Iqbal.
Later, Chaudhry Shujaat took a round of Jamia Hafsa and said that female students were studying in a good atmosphere.
The first round of talks was suspended after a military helicopter had continued hovering over the mosque for 20 minutes last week. The mosque administration condemned what it called aerial surveillance of the mosque and spraying of some gases.
This allegation is not true, unfortunately. |
Maulana Fazalur Rehman Khalil, erstwhile chief of the banned Harkatul Mujahideen (HM), said on Friday that he feared a backlash from militants over the Lal Masjid operation. The military operation in the mosque-madrassa complex has serious repercussions and it could have been avoided, Khalil said, adding that Islamist militants could severely react to it. 
Federal Information Minister Mohammad Ali Durrani said on Sunday that the body of former Balochistan governor and chief minister Nawab Akbar Bugti had not yet been taken out from the rubble of the bunker destroyed in the Saturday attack and that it would be buried in the presence of members of the bereaved family.