Lal Masjid Operation : One Year Passed
By Rohail Butt • Jul 4th, 2008 • Category: Politics, Worth A Second Look • 30 CommentsWho knew in the 60s that the Mosque which was being built in the heart of new capital Islamabad and was named Red Mosque, would actually turn red in 2007 and would act as the divisive line between two school of thoughts in the country ensuing a bloody backlash from the radical wing. Though the whole country was at utmost pain over the loss of lives of students of Lal Masjid and of men of security forces, at one side there are people who still believe that the operation on Lal Masjid was justified, yet there are another who still weep over the operation.
The ideological fault line in the country is more than visible in the country, and the implications are still being felt very deeply in all the parts of the country. The intrinsic conflict with the current structure and the concept of the nation-state has become crystal-vivid after the Lal Masjid episode. The ideological fault line seems conspicuously clear and it’s reverberations are being heard in the FATA and Swat region of Pakistan.
In the Islamic republic of Pakistan, the goals of Ghazi brothers were very clear and it was their right. But the procedure they followed was wrong but that didn’t warrant a full blown military operation on the Mosque. It wasn’t that Lal Masjid starting showing signs of violence all of a sudden in 2007. Lal Masjid showed such predilection for the first time in 2003, when students of its Jamia Fareedia played a major role in the Millat-i-Islamia organised riots after the killing of Maulana Azam Tariq. A cinema employee was killed and dozens other were injured as the seminary students ransacked cinemas, restaurants and gas stations in the Islamabad.
Then the troubles at the mosque and the adjacent Jamia Hafsa, a madrasa for girls and women surfaced in January, 2007 when students occupied a library to protest against a campaign to remove mosques built illegally on state land. In March, students abducted three Pakistani women they accused of running a brothel and held them for several days. It was proved later that Aunty Shamim was one of the women, and she was really running the brothel and had contacts with very influential people in the capital. They also abducted and briefly held policemen, and have warned video shops to stop selling indecent films. Then six Chinese women were also abducted by the students of the Jamia, these women were accused of involvement in prostitution. They were released after 17 hours but not before Pakistan was hugely embarrassed over the failure to protect citizens of China, its most steadfast ally.
Media then starting raising hell, and they repeatedly asked from the government about it’s elusive writ, and they pushed government in doing something really aggressive about the doings. What more Musharraf could want? It was a juicy chance for him to score some points in front of masters from the Washington, and in that bid he ordered the operation and settled for no compromise and this was when late Benazir Bhutto who was in exile at that time also supported the operation, and that was the patch-up point between her and the Musharraf. The operation at Lal Masjid resulted in deaths of thousands of girls and boys in the Jamia, and that was followed by plethora of suicide bombing attacks in almost all cities of Pakistan. It was when United States made a match of Benazir Bhutto and Pervez Musharraf and the deal was struck in Abu Dhabi.
As one year has passed since the Lal Masjid Operation, its the moment of refection for all the moderate and not-so-moderate political forces that have a genuine long-term interest in a stable, progressive and peaceful Pakistan.
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That still aches, and aches very badly.
Pakistan is still rocking after the Lal Masjid Operation.
Laal Masjad Operation Details:
1- Special forces attack compound from three sides and breach mosque walls
2- Fierce fighting between military and militants on mosque roof
3- Military take control of mosque and clear building
4- Militants fire from mosque minarets as action switches to madrassa
5- Chief cleric Abdul Rashid Ghazi was said to be holed up in its basement, with women and children
No question about that, that President Genral Prevez Musharraf Sahab is a well educated and nice person. But unfortunatly President Sahab is too much against Madrissaà and Mulla.
What happened in Lal Masjid and Jamia-e-Hifza could be solve the better way.
Former FM Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri has confessed that the issue of deposed CJ Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry was a mistake on the part of the previous govt and the sitting coalition should resolve the issue immediately in the Parliament without wasting more time. In an interview with Waqt TV channel on Friday, Kasuri said that their govt followed a flawed strategy against the people in Lal Masjid. Strict steps against Lal Masjid admin should have been taken when they were kidnapping people in Islamabad
The Lal Masjid operation was a totally mishandled one where innocents were the victim of the dirty game of pollitics. I had a bit different views on the issue a year ago but when the dust settled things were different. However, I still believe that Ghazi bros were the culprits alongwith the government_ hence the game of politics.
Good thing those two fools did not succeed otherwise the pain would have been much greater! Let there be no doubts them two were working for the enemies of Pakistan. It is people like that propagandist “Dakter” at GEO who ruthlessly glorified them and presented them as saviours of our religion from our own government. What a shameless disservice to the nation! We can fool ourselves as much as we like into believing their innocence. Of course, there were some misguided and manipulated / brainwashed kids who also became victim of this campaign started by those evil forces against Pakistan and its way of life. The state of Pakistan depended too much on people like Ejaz Ul Haq (he himself has questionable loyalities, after all is he or is he not son of that ‘mard-e-momin’ a direct beneficiary of all the ill gotten wealth).
Abdul Rasheed Ghazi and his followers who died during that operation will come alive along with Namrood, Firaouns, Abu Jahal and Abu Lahab on the Day of Judgement, Inshah Allah.
These Lal Masjid people had brought the bad name of Islam and Pakistan in front of the whole world and they must be remembered with bad names only.
May Allah curse all of them!
Lal masjid was relics of gen zia and it was destroyed by gen mussarf.Action and reaction are equal and opposite.Both have enjoyed billion dollar deals and now next generations of two have become business tycoons on dollar deals.The question is who are actual victims and simple answer is the poor people of Pakistan.No body is asking ijaz ul hag who throughout protected rashid brothers when they were caught by any poor patriotc officer while they moved arms and ammunition.Those who said that modernisation can improve extremism culture in our region but this mosque located in the heart of one of modern city has faded this idea.Rashid brothers were one of educated clerics in the history of Pakistan whom fate ended like stray dogs in the hand of army mafia.
We are badly in need of strong patriotic COAS whose sincere will can change the scenario of pakistan.We as a nation has been trapped into deadly game of islam and anti Islam totally created by army mafia and US team.if we cant produce true COAS then surely more such incidents would be repeated on our streets.
For the want of a nail…
“The operation at Lal Masjid resulted in deaths of thousands of girls and boys in the Jamia,…”
Rohail, Can you please provide proof of the above numbers? I was in Islamabad during the time of this incident, and no where did I hear this number of casualties. From reliable sources, I was told the final number being under 200.
No doubt, it was a sad event. However, to start these conspiracy theories of thousands of girls and boys dying without any proof, defeats the ethics of your article. You need to leave emotions aside, when we all know you are trying to relate of a very tragic event.
Well said dr alshaaer!b This is a dilemma of Pakistan that everybody lying from tip to toe. From Nawaz Sharif to Qazi Hussain, Imran Khan to Fazlur Rehman, Hamid Gul to Aslam Baig, Geo to Ary, Ch. Aitazaz to Ch. Iftikhar fom Asif Zardari to Shahbaz Sharif. All are pure F*** B****s
May Allah call all of lthem as early as possible!
Everyone is playing blame game witout considering the after effects on Pakistan
Pipe down, AOM, when mentioning the list of liars, you forgot Musharraf who tops the lists with flying colors.
dr alshaer, I dont know in which ISB you were. I live along with G-6 and according to very reliable sources I can vouch that the numbers of girls who perished in the operation ranges between 2000 to 3000.
Like the voter turnout in the elections, nobody would ever come up with the true figures of causalities in the Lal Masjid operation. Even if one girl or boy student or army man was killed, it was sad and we need to explore the root causes.
Dr. Ayesha,
Can you elaborate a bit more about the Musharaf lies. I am here to accept it now if there is any!
What about his promise of laying off the Wardi in 2004?
Above all, what about his promise of giving us good governance during his era, when he couped the Nawaz government in 1997?
You were talking about lies and now started about his promises. So you could not find anyone of his lie in half hour.
Has anybody fulfill his promise in Pakistan but still Musharraf’s record is superb. I don’t want to go in detail. There was something wrong done by MMA against the accord, that’s why he did not fulfill his promise and he rightly did so.
If he did not give good governence then do you think this coalition govt. is giving good goverence when the price of every commodity has gone up more than 100 % in just 4 months, stock exchange crashed, fast depleting foreign reserves. flight of US $20 billion from Pakistan, all foreign investment stopped, curtailment of development fund in the budget etc etc.
People are literally talking on the roads that Musharraf and Shaukat Aziz govt. was much better then this so called AWAMI HAKUMAT, whose main aim is to kill every poor man in Pakistan by its policies.
AOM, you know what I talked about, and you very well know what I mean.
I don’t know really Dr. Ayesha what you talked about and I don’t know what you mean. Let me try again to look into what are you trying to say.