NDTV : Time for introspection: Musharraf

Time for introspection: Musharraf

NDTV | July 12, 2007 | (Islamabad)

President Pervez Musharraf addressed the people of Pakistan on Thursday, strongly defending his government's decision to storm the Lal Masjid.

During his speech, Musharraf praised the Army, Rangers and Police for the success of 'Operation Silence'.

However, he added that he wanted to resolve the crisis through dialogue but that was not to be.

He emphasized that the goal of the operation was not to take lives but to save lives, and that they had managed to rescue 3,300 people from Lal Masjid.

The Pakistan President also paid homage to all those killed in the operation and told the people of Pakistan that Lal Masjid was free from the hands of terrorists.

The key turning point in the crisis, he said, was when students inside the mosque kidnapped some Chinese nationals.

General Musharraf said it was Pakistan's most shameful moment when the Chinese President called him about the incident.

In his address, Musharraf also appealed to madarsas not to preach hate and said that this was a time for Pakistan to introspect, while vowing to eliminate extremism and terrorism from every nook and corner of the country.

Clean-up after the operation

Earlier, Pakistani commandos cleared the mosque complex of militants on Wednesday, and the army said it counted the bodies of 73 suspected militants.

Spokesman Major General Waheed Arshad said they found no corpses of women and children, although seven or eight of the bodies had been burned beyond recognition, apparently by the militants' own exploded petrol bombs.

He said the compound was still being combed for mines, booby traps and other weaponry.

And Pakistani Prime Minister made the government's stand clear, he said they were hoping to deal with the after-effects of the current crisis with utter care.

''This is to clear the Pakistan government's stand. We are not against Madrassa and religious institutes of any kind. But any setup which promotes militancy will be dealt within the full extent of the law,'' he added.

He told reporters the probability of women and children being found during the clearing operation was low.

''The operation is over. Everybody who was inside is out,'' Aziz said.

The commandos went in after unsuccessful attempts to get the mosque's militants to surrender to a weeklong siege mounted by the government following deadly street clashes with armed supporters of the mosque on July 3.

The extremists had been using the mosque as a base to send out radicalized students to enforce their version of Islamic morality, including abducting alleged prostitutes and trying to ''re-educate'' them at the compound.

Some 106 people have been killed overall since the violence began. The dead also included the mosque's pro-Taliban cleric Abdul Rashid Ghazi.

The final hours of the operation inside the compound, which included the mosque and a women's religious school, involved troops moving room to room in basements, blowing up foxholes where militants had been entrenched, an army officer said.

Ghazi's body was found in the basement of the religious school after a fierce gunbattle involving militants, senior Interior Ministry official Brig Javed Iqbal Cheema said.

Cheema said the body has been transported for burial to Ghazi's native village of Rojhan in southwestern Pakistan. His brother, Abdul Aziz, the mosque's chief who was arrested trying to escape from the mosque last week, will be allowed to attend the funeral.

Authorities took an unknown number into custody, while others, mostly young students, have returned to their homes.

Protest against Musharraf

The casualties at the Red Mosque could further turn public opinion against President Gen Pervez Musharraf, who already faces a backlash for his bungled attempts to fire the country's chief justice, although it could also burnish his credentials in the West and among some moderate Pakistanis.

About 15 other Islamic opposition lawmakers gathered in front of the Supreme Court in Islamabad, blaming Musharraf for Pakistan's troubles, including the mosque attack, and calling for his resignation.

In neighboring Afghanistan, a senior Taliban commander, Mansoor Dadullah, urged Muslims to launch suicide attacks on Pakistani security forces, calling the assault ''a cruel act.''

US concerns

And there could be some basis to those fears of a backlash in Pakistan. US officials now say that the al Qaeda has become entrenched in a remote corner of Pakistan, and the United States fears a military strike could spawn new militant activity in the country.

Top intelligence analysts, appearing before the US House of Representatives Armed Services Committee, said the militant network led by Osama bin Laden has become increasingly active in ungoverned sections of Pakistan.

It is believed bin Laden himself is protected by local tribal leaders near the Afghanistan border.

Intelligence officials testified about global security threats facing the United States amid concerns about a potential new al Qaeda threat on US soil following attempted attacks in Britain. (With AP Inputs)