Javno : Pakistan Government Had no Choice on Mosque

Pakistan Government Had no Choice on Mosque

Pakistan's government should have acted sooner to control a radical cleric and tackle his militant supporters.

Reuters | July 11, 2007

Pakistan's government should have acted sooner to control a radical cleric and tackle his militant supporters but in the end had no choice but to use force against them, newspapers said on Wednesday.

More than 50 militants and eight soldiers were killed when security forces stormed the Lal Masjid, or Red Mosque, on Tuesday after months of rising tension and a week-long siege of the mosque and religious school complex.

Troops were securing the last parts of the complex on Wednesday and the death toll was expected to rise after soldiers combed the compound.

Heavy casualties, especially among women and children religious students based at the compound, would be damaging for President Pervez Musharraf, due to seek a second term as president later this year.

But early on Wednesday, the military was saying no women and children were killed.

Newspapers -- many of which have been critical of Musharraf, who is also army chief, over his suspension of the country's top judge in March -- were generally supportive of the government.

"The decision to launch the final assault was not an easy one but given the circumstances, there was nothing else the government could really do," the News said in an editorial.

The Dawn newspaper said no tears would be shed for the well-armed militants.

"The responsibility for the death of the innocents and the trauma of those who have survived rests with the extremists who held hostage those whom they had lured into the mosque for giving them lessons in Islam," the newspaper said.

The Lal Masjid's militant students launched a campaign in January to impose strict Islamic law, raising alarm among many in the liberal-leaning capital.

They students mounted a vigilante anti-vice campaign, kidnapping women they accused of prostitution. They also threatened shops selling Western films and abducted policemen.

"RESTRAINT"

For months, authorities tried to appease the students, fearing tough action would only create more problems.

"The government's mistakes in the entire drama notwithstanding, one has to admit that it exercised the utmost restraint," the Dawn said.

"It kept talking... for months and used a variety of channels to free the hostages and disarm the militants."

Dawn said support for the crackdown on "the Lal Masjid brigade" would strengthen the government's position although it said there were still tough questions to be answered.

"The government must... order an inquiry into why and how the intelligence agencies failed to get wind of the goings-on in the Lal Masjid and the stockpiling of arms and ammunition."

The Nation newspaper said the death toll was "frighteningly high".

"It must be said in the government's favour, though, that it made persistent attempts at getting the seminary vacated with a minimum loss of life, and did succeed to a large extent -- nearly 1,300 men, women and children came out to surrender."

"It is now incumbent on the authorities to contain the backlash," the Nation said, referring to fears enraged militants will unleash a wave of revenge attacks.