The district administration opened Lal Masjid in compliance with the orders of the Supreme Court on Wednesday, three months after it was closed following an operation against militants who had holed up inside the mosque. Hundreds of students from the Jamia Faridia and Jamia Hafsa gathered at the newly painted and repaired mosque to offer Zuhr prayers.Commandoes raided the mosque to oust the militants, and this appeared to have sparked a wave of suicide bombings and other attacks by Islamic extremists in the country that have left nearly 300 people dead.
The capital and Punjab police were deployed at the mosque to avoid any kind of re-capture of the mosque by the militants. The forces were asked by authorities to remove their pickets to allow the general public to enter the mosque.
| The madrassa students took responsibility for security at the mosque and the administration of the mosque had issued special security cards to the students deputed at the gates. |
Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal leader Shah Abdul Aziz said no politics would be carried on in the mosque. He also asked the students to congregate peacefully at the mosque. He said that the administration of the mosque would cooperate with the local authorities in the interest of the general public.
Abdul Aziz speaks: A recorded statement by former Lal Masjid imam, Maulana Abdul Aziz, who has been detained on various charges, was aired at the occasion. “Our movement for the enforcement of Sharia has been stained with our blood and it must continue,” Aziz said in the message. “The problems of this country can only be overcome with Islamic law,” he said. Aziz asked the students and other followers to remain calm.
Ume Hassan, principal of the demolished Jamia Hafsa, asked the students of the madrassa to focus on their studies instead of indulging in politics. She prevented students from heading towards the site of the demolished madrassa.
The family members of former deputy imam Abdul Rasheed Ghazi, who was killed during the operation, were also present at the occasion, as were Islamabad Inpector General of Police Nadeem Baloch, Senior Superintendent of Police Taimoor Ali Khan and other senior officials of the district administration.