Pakistani mosque's students say seize policemen

ISLAMABAD, May 18 (Reuters) Islamist students from a radical Pakistani mosque involved in a lengthy stand-off with the government snatched four policemen today, a senior cleric said.

Lal Masjid, or Red Mosque, has been at odds with the authorities since January when female students seized a municipal library adjoining their madrasa to protest at the demolition of mosques illegally built on state land in the capital, Islamabad.

''The boys captured four men who they spotted in a white ...

car parked outside the mosque since morning,'' cleric Abdul Rashid Ghazi told Reuters.

''We did not know who they are but police officials now say that they are plainclothes police, and they are negotiating with us.'' No confirmation was immediately available from the police.

Ghazi said the authorities had agreed to stop surveillance by plainclothes police during negotiations last month to end a confrontation that had become increasingly embarrassing for President Pervez Musharraf.

After the talks, the head of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League, Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, said all issues had been settled amicably. Ghazi denied any agreement had been reached.

Ghazi said his students would vacate the library only when the government rebuilt demolished mosques and enforced Islamic laws.

The mosque's top cleric, Abdul Aziz, shocked people last month when he threatened to unleash suicide bombers if the government used force to stop the mosque's movement to implement strict Islamic shariah law in the capital.

Progressive Pakistanis wanted the government to take a tougher stand against Lal Masjid's radicals, fearing a trend towards what the media calls the ''Talibanisation'' of the Pakistani society.

REUTERS AB VV2237