| Submit your comments on this article | |
| India-Pakistan | |
| Lal Masjid cleric back in action | |
| 2015-11-14 | |
| ISLAMABAD: Lal Masjid cleric Abdul Aziz held a rally to mark the initiation of a movement towards enforcement of a system based on the Holy Quran and Sunnah, after Friday prayers. The rally, led by Abdul Aziz and Umme Hassan and comprising seminary students, took off from Lal Masjid in Islamabad’s G-6 Sector and ended at the Jamia Hafsa in Sector G-7 of Islamabad. Umme Hassan is the head of the Jamia Hafsa seminary and wife of Lal Masjid cleric Maulana Abdul Aziz.
A heavy contingent of police and Rangers was deployed in the areas surrounding Lal Masjid and Jamia Hafsa in the federal capital city to maintain law and order. District Magistrate of Islamabad Capital Territory has issued a warning notice to the Lal Masjid cleric for taking out rally ‘without informing and seeking permission from authorities, which could have jeopardised the law and order situation in Islamabad’. The letter states that a previous notice issued by the office of the chief commissioner of Islamabad on August 3 this year, had included Aziz’s name in a watch list under the Fourth Schedule of the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA). It further states that as per a surety letter submitted by Aziz to the inspector general of Islamabad Police, he is bound to respect and cooperate with the federal authorities. The warning letter by Islamabad’s district magistrate states that Friday’s rally was in violation of Section 11EE of the ATA as he took part in a rally, organised with religious parties, without informing and seeking prior approval from the authorities concerned, which could have jeopardised the law and order situation in the federal capital. The letter also warned the Lal Masjid cleric that he could even be arrested if found guilty of violation of Section 11EE of the ATA again. This is not the first time Abdul Aziz has vowed to enforce Sharia in the country. Earlier in April 2007, Lal Masjid clerics had vowed to enforce what they called ‘Shariat’ in the country even if the government does not want to do so. The Lal Masjid administration had also threatened to unleash a wave of suicide bombers if the government took any action to counter it. The announcement was followed by agitation which erupted into street battles around the mosque between security forces and the militants. At least nine people died and some 150 were injured. | |
| Posted by:Steve White |