Lal Masjid cleric prefers martyrdom over arrest

Islamabad, July 6: A cleric holed up in a Pakistani mosque said today he and his followers would choose 'martyrdom' rather than arrest, hours after the government spurned his request for safe passage.

At least 19 people have been killed in clashes that erupted outside Islamabad's Red Mosque between radical students and security forces on Tuesday, and the compound housing the mosque and an affiliated girls' madrasa has been under siege since then.

Hopes rose overnight of a peaceful end to siege, after cleric Abdul Rashid Ghazi said that he and followers of his Taliban-style movement were willing to surrender.

But, the government said an attempt to attach demands, including safe passage, was unacceptable and insisted Ghazi release women and children, but the leader of the radicals said he would not bow to pressure.

''We can be martyred, but we will not court arrest,'' Ghazi told Geo TV, hours after seeking terms.

One boy, who surrendered himself after sneaking out of the fortified compound housing the mosque and a girls madrasa today, said older students were forcing younger ones to stay.

''Food is running low and water is also limited,'' Ashraf Swati, 15, told Reuters, adding that there were several wounded students inside and the stench from dead bodies hung in the air.

President Pervez Musharraf has told security agencies to be patient, keep casualties down and allow maximum time for parents to take girls out of a madrasa in the compound, officials said.

Hundreds of troops and police are surrounding the compound, and water, gas and electricity supplies have been cut off.

Tension between authorities and two cleric brothers heading the mosque had been rising for months, and the military had pre-planned an operation to lay siege that was implemented hours after the first casualties from clashes earlier this week.

Ghazi's elder brother, Abdul Aziz, was caught on Wednesday trying to flee disguised in a woman's all-covering burqa. Still dressed in a burqa for an extraordinary interview on state television, Aziz called on his followers to give up.

About 1,200 students have now come out. Aziz said there were still some 850 students inside, including 600 women and girls, and around 15 men were armed. However, Ghazi later put the number of students at 1,900, while officials say they couldn't be sure.

According to Interior Minister Ahmed Aftab Khan Sherpao there were between 50 and 80 hard-core militants armed with automatic weapons, grenades and petrol bombs.

Security forces ramped up pressure with intermittent gunfire and explosions. Interior Ministry spokesman Javed Iqbal Cheema said holes had been blasted in the compound's outer walls.

Today morning there was burst of intensive firing, trapping inside the compound a handful of parents who had been allowed through to bring out their children. Other parents were held back by soldiers after the shooting broke out, Islamabad's Deputy Commissioner, Chaudhry Mohammad Ali, said.

SAFE PASSAGE

Ghazi told television channels by telephone from the mosque that he wanted safe passage for himself and his followers, and denied that any students belonged to banned militant groups.

He also asked that he and his sick mother be allowed to live in the mosque ''until I make some alternative arrangements''.

But the government insisted on unconditional surrender.

''They should leave their weapons in the mosque and come out,'' Cheema, the Interior Ministry spokesman, told a news conference.

Many Pakistanis welcomed the action against a movement reminiscent of the Taliban in Afghanistan, and symptomatic of the religious extremism seeping into cities from tribal border areas.

Moderate politicians and the media had urged Musharraf to act sooner, but he cited concern about bloodshed and authorities tried to appease them.

The clerics and their followers, most of whom are in their 20s and 30s, launched an increasingly provocative campaign from January to press various demands, including action against vice. They threatened suicide attacks if suppressed.

Last month's kidnapping of six women and a man from China -- Pakistan's most steadfast ally -- whom the students said were involved in prostitution, was a tipping point, officials said.

REUTERS

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