As usual, the Lal Masjid ‘vigilantes’ stole the media spotlight this week as well by challenging the state writ and then escaping unpunished. This time, Chinese nationals running a massage centre in the posh F-8 locality were the target. After getting it ‘confirmed’ from their own sources that the place was being used as a ‘brothel’, the self-styled Sharia enforcers brandishing batons and weapons raided the massage centre in the dark hours of Saturday. Unmindful of the fallout of their action on the country’s decades long relations with China, the male and female vigilantes forced their way into the building, seized the ‘prostitutes’ and their ‘clients’ by the lock and dragged them out in the open. With no police and Rangers in sight, the young seminarians thrashed the ‘sinful’ folk to their heart’s content. The cries of the victims pulled in many from the neighbourhood including security guards, but seeing the situation they preferred to stay away. The drama of punishing people with ‘bad morals’ on the spot lasted for almost half an hour before they were bundled into vehicles and taken to Lal Masjid.
After listening to the moral lessons for more than 12 hours, the hostages were set free. However, the Chinese women were wearing burqas when they got out of the seminary.
The incident horrified the foreigners based in Islamabad prompting their governments to push Islamabad for an action against the students of Lal Masjid and Jamia Hafsa. In order to satisfy the governments of the friendly countries, especially of China, the city police booked the top cleric of the mosque and his deputy for kidnapping the Chinese and a few Pakistanis. But neither the clerics nor their students faced any action for reasons not explained by the government.
This is not for the first time that the Jamia Fareedia and Jamia Hafsa students have flouted laws. However, the foreigners have become their targets for the first time in the last six months of their drive to Talibanise Islamabad.
The officials of the capital police dread to pass by the Lal Masjid and prefer to go to police lines rather than serve at Aabpara police station. Police sources said that the total strength of Aabpara police station is 195 and majority of them want to be transferred somewhere else. On Thursday, the students of Lal Masjid reportedly made an attempt to raid yet another massage centre in G-6/4 run by an influential personality. Fortunately, the city police rushed to the spot forcing the vigilantes to flee.