Dawn : Restraint in dealing with Lal Masjid crisis lauded

Restraint in dealing with Lal Masjid crisis lauded

By Anwar Iqbal | WASHINGTON, July 5

The United States said on Thursday that the government of Pakistan had displayed ‘exceptional restraint’ in dealing with the Lal Masjid crisis. In its second statement on the situation in three days, the US State Department said the government’s action against militants hiding inside the Lal Masjid complex was “domestic security issue” of Pakistan and hoped for a peaceful resolution.

“We are following the situation closely and hope for a peaceful resolution to this affair,” the statement said.

“The government of Pakistan has demonstrated exceptional restraint in dealing with this situation to date,” the State Department said.

“We hope that those who continue to resist will choose to cooperate with the government, and express themselves peacefully, so that further violence can be avoided.”

Reuters adds from New Delhi: India’s Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said that Pakistan’s confrontation with militants at Lal Masjid had brought home the dangers of terrorism to that country and India wished it success in fighting the menace.

Mr Singh told a group of women journalists he wished Pakistan “Godspeed in tackling the dangerous situation” arising out of the fighting at the mosque, NDTV quoted him as saying.

“Pakistan is seeing terrorism for the first time. What is happening in Pakistan, thinking people have realised fundamentalism is perverse and dangerous to society,” the Press Trust of India news agency quoted him as saying.

India last year said Pakistan was also a victim of terrorism and formed a joint counter-terrorism panel as part of a peace process.

But that process had slowed down because Pakistan was “preoccupied”, Mr Singh was quoted as saying.

“The dialogue has slowed down, not because of us, but because of the situation in Pakistan,” he said.

AFP adds from Islamabad: British Prime Minister Gordon Brown telephoned President Pervez Musharraf on Thursday to praise his efforts to curb militancy and terrorism, a senior Pakistani official said.

It was Mr Brown’s first contact with the military ruler since taking over from Tony Blair on June 27.

“The British Prime Minister appreciated President Musharraf’s key role in the fight against militancy and terrorism and promised to maintain close ties between the two countries,” the official told AFP.

The two leaders also discussed “longstanding bilateral ties between the two allies and agreed to further strengthen them,” he said.

Sources said the mosque crisis also came up in the discussion between the two leaders, though the official would not confirm or deny it.