Swat situation, a reaction to Lal Masjid operation, says chief cleric Aziz

Islamabad, May 4 (ANI): The recently released controversial cleric of Lal Masjid (Red Mosque), Maulana Abdul Aziz, has said that whatever situation has emerged in the troubled areas of Swat, Buner and Dir was a reaction of a military operation conducted on the mosque in 2007.

Aziz said most of the students of Lal Masjid who suffered due to the operation belonged to those areas and now they were taking their revenge.

"I had warned the then government not to go for the military operation on the mosque otherwise the situation would get out of control and I will not be responsible for the reaction," The Dawn quoted Aziz, as saying.

"Most of my students belonged to Swat, Buner, Dir and some nearby areas and they are reacting and taking revenge of the blood of their relatives and friends," Aziz said while expressing ignorance about the exact number deaths in the mosque during the operation.

"Now they are not under my control and whatever they are doing in Swat and Buner is their own decision," he said when asked why he does not ask his students to keep themselves away from militants.

Aziz was of the view that hundreds of people were killed; including women and children, in the Lal Masjid operation that also claimed the lives of 10 security personnel.

However, former President Gen (retd) Pervez Musharraf had recently said that the security forces in the operation killed a total of 94 people and they all were armed militants. He claimed that not a single woman and child was killed in that incident.

Coincidently, President Asif Ali Zardari has released Aziz on bail simultaneously with the approval of the Swat deal despite the fact that he was facing 26 different cases.

Aziz, a day after his return to Lal Masjid, called for a movement to implement Sharia in Pakistan.

Meanwhile, the intolerant behaviour of Lal Masjid students and display of arms are again back in the heart of the federal capital. (ANI)