President General Pervez Musharraf on Thursday vowed that no other madrassa or mosque in Pakistan will be allowed to take the law into their own hands as Lal Masjid and Jamia Hafsa did. “We will not let any mosque and madrassa follow Lal Masjid and Jamia Hafsa,” Gen Musharraf said in a televised address. “I am an ardent supporter of madrassas but these kinds of madrassas will not be allowed to function in the country.” He vowed that militancy, extremism and terrorism in the country would be crushed. “We have yet to achieve our goals to get rid of these menaces,” he warned.He expressed grief over the killings during the operation against “militants and extremists” in Lal Masjid and Jamia Hafsa, but said the government was forced to take them head on. “We have succeeded in this operation but this is not a time to rejoice…those who had been killed were our own people…but they had detracted from the right path…the operation had become inevitable for Pakistan,” the president said. He blamed Lal Masjid deputy chief cleric Abdul Rashid Ghazi, who was killed in the operation, for the failure of last-ditch talks to reach a peaceful solution, saying his demands were unacceptable. “Ghazi wanted a safe passage for himself and he also wanted amnesty for all his comrades and a safe passage for the foreigners hiding there,” the president said.
He explained the efforts the government had made over the last six months to resolve the issue peacefully, but regretted that the militants and extremists were not ready to contain their activities.
| “They had challenged the writ of the government and the most unfortunate event was the kidnapping of seven Chinese,” he said. Nothing was more shameful for Pakistan than insecurity for citizens from China. |
The president praised PML President Chaudhry Shujaat, other ministers and ulema of the Wafaqul Madaris for their efforts to resolve the issue through negotiation. He also lauded the commandos, police and rangers who took part in the operation. He said the government had tried its best to ensure there were as few casualties as possible in the operation. He said 2,000 students had left Jamia Hafsa before July 3, while another 1,300 left after. “We could have launched this operation much earlier but we wanted that maximum women and children leave this place,” the president said.
Gen Musharraf said the extremists of Lal Masjid had tarnished the image of Islam. “They were training the children for terrorism and extremism. The women were carrying batons and the men were armed with weapons. Is this what Islam teaches us?”
| He said the militants had links with people in NWFP and FATA. “We are supporting the NWFP government with full back-up support of the army to fight militancy and terrorism.” |
He urged moderates to support the government in changing the hearts and minds of those who had chosen militancy and extremism. He said ulema and the Wafaqul Madaris should help bring all madrassas into the mainstream. “Remove the sentiments of hatred and extremism from the hearts and minds of the students and guide them to shun militancy and terrorism,” the president said.