Tear gas, firing near radical Pakistani mosque

Islamabad, July 3: Pakistani paramilitary forces fired tear gas to disperse hundreds of stone throwing students from a radical mosque here today, and gunshots were heard from inside the mosque's compound, police said.

The Government has hitherto refrained from taking action against the clerics and students from Lal Masjid, the Red Mosque, out of fear it could provoke threatened suicide attacks.

Police outside Lal Masjid told Reuters tear gas was fired after students threw stones at paramilitary troops deployed around the mosque. They also heard gunshots fired from inside.

Authorities have been locked in a tense stand-off for months with the student movement, which is seeking to impose Taliban-style social values in the Pakistani's capital.

Appeals were made on mosque's loudspeakers for residents of Islamabad to come to the mosque and help the students and 'mujahideen', or holy warriors.

Burqa-clad women stood on the rooftops of an adjacent madrasa, shouting anti-government slogans, while male students armed with staves guarded the entrances to the compound.

REUTERS

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