...literally the
Red Mosque, located in Islamabad and frequented by all sorts of high govt officials. The proprietors, Ghazi Abdul Rasheed and Maulana Abdul Aziz Ghazi, unleashed their Islamic storm troopers on the city, shutting down whorehouses and beating people up who weren't devout enough. The Musharraf govt put an end to the nonsense by besieging the place. Abdul Aziz Ghazi was nabbed while he was trying to escape dressed up like a girl. BBC reported that the corpse count at 173, but other claims, usually hysterical, say there were up to 1000 titzup. Among their number was Abdul Rashid Ghazi. Everyone then said tut-tut and what a nice guy he had been...
Shuhada Foundation has termed Maulana Abdul Aziz
...nutball holy man who runs the Lal Masjid in the heart of Pakistain's capital. After instigating a rebellion against the state in 2007, he was caught trying to sneak away dressed in a burka. He rejects democracy as un-Islamic, which it probably is...
's decision to withdraw the murder case against former president
Pervez PervMusharraf
... former dictator of Pakistain, who was less dictatorial and corrupt than any Pak civilian government to date ...
against the spirit of Sharia.
The foundation held a meeting in Lal Masjid on Monday and declared that Maulana Aziz had imposed a 'clergy dictatorship' on his family to hide the tyranny of a military dictator.
The meeting was followed by a presser at the same place where a day earlier Maulana Aziz had addressed mediapersons and pardoned everybody responsible for the 2007 military operation on the mosque and the attached seminary, Jamia Hafsa
... the Islamic nunnery maintained by Lal Masjid....
.
Though the chairperson of Shuhada Foundation is Ume Hasaan, the wife of Maulana Aziz who was sitting beside her husband at the time of his media talk, the other office-bearers of the foundation, including its president Tariq Asad advocate, are opposing the decision.
"This decision is against Sharia and we would like Maulana Abdul Aziz to take it back," Mr Asad said, adding: "Maulana Aziz is talking about the implementation of Sharia in the country but his own acts are contrary to the principles of Sharia."
He said he and Shuhada Foundation never bowed to any pressure or offer by anybody, including the former military dictator.
Mr Asad said the former general himself had wanted the Shuhada Foundation to take back the murder case of Maulana Abdul Rasheed Ghazi but we declined to accept his demand.
"The dictator was even ready to submit a public apology and made four other offers but we rejected them," he claimed.
The other three offers as stated by Mr Asad were: payment of blood money to the heirs of those killed in the military operation, rebuilding of Jamia Hafsa from his own pocket at its old place - the children library - and to be witness against those who were responsible for the military operation.
"We rejected it and we announce to continue the legal and constitutional struggle against all those responsible for the military operation on Lal Masjid and Jamia Hafsa in 2007," Mr Asad said.
The Shuhada Foundation also announced to lodge a fresh FIR against Gen Musharraf and other military officers of that time, the then prime minister, Shaukat Aziz, and other cabinet members for the 2007 military operation.