Pakistan Times : Jamia Hafsa Islamabad emerged as Centre of Militancy

Thursday, July 12, 2007

Jamia Hafsa Islamabad emerged as Centre of Militancy

'Pakistan Times' Staff Correspondent | July 13, 2007

ISLAMABAD: Mediamen visited the Jamia Hafsa here on Thursday and saw the centre of the militancy, which exposed the tall claims of the madrassa management about promotion of Islamic Education.

The visit left no doubt that instead of being a seminary imparting religious education, it was a centre of militancy.

The government had held repeated negotiations with the management of Lal Masjid to save the lives of maximum number of innocent children and women, but all these efforts proved futile in the face of rigidness of Maulana Abdul Rashid Ghazi Naib Khateeb of the seminary.

Finally in the early hours of July 10 the law enforcing agencies had to launch an operation against the extremists in the Jamia Hafsa.

At roof top of the Jamia Hafsa extremists had piled up sand bags to make their pickets and resort to firing on the security forces.

The operation by security forces against the extremists continued almost 36 hours during which the militants gave strict resistance.

The ammunition, rocket launchers, machine guns, hand grenades, petrol bombs and suicide bombing equipment recovered from the Jamia Hafsa are indicative of the large scale preparations made by the militants for confrontation.

The children studying in the Madrassa were used to be brain washed and given military training.

All the male and female students were not allowed to go home, while their parents were kept at distance from them whenever they come to meet.

The rooms for meeting between parents and children were so constructed that they remained separated by a net of iron rods, presenting the scene of the meeting place in a jail rather than in a madrassa.

The rooms give the impression that the parents were meeting with dangerous criminals not their children.

For female students in the Jamia Hafsa 75 rooms were built with images of arms and weapons on the walls indicating that they were given military training rather than education.

A basement in the madrassa was used by extremists for hiding themselves behind the human shield of innocent people. The rooms in the basement were used as the bunkers from where firing was launched against the security forces.

On the upper floor of the madrassa the extremists had set up their pickets and bunkers.

In rooms of the second floor of the madrassa big holes were created to enable the inmates escape in the emergency.

Overall the madrassa building presents the outlook of fortified place of defence rather than a centre of religious education.

The rooms and the basement were designed to be used for launching attack from inside whenever needed.

The Security Forces also faced difficulties due to intricate and secret passages.

The militants were not only equipped with modern foreign weapons, but were also fully trained in present day warfare techniques.

The security forces had adopted a very effective strategy during the operation, which frustrated the ambition of the extremists and also help save maximum number of innocent lives.

Of Militants

The militants of Jamia Hafsa and Lal Masjid were so trained and well equipped that they used night vision goggles to spot security personnel during the night.

Shaheed Lt. Col. Haroon Ul Islam, who became victim of the bullets from militants on late Saturday while on a mission to create a breach in one of the wall of Madrissah giving passage to the women and children held hostage inside.

This proves that terrorists had used night vision device to spot the daring officer of the Special Services Group.

The media persons, who visited the seminary on Thursday were shown a huge cache of arms and ammo recovered from various parts of the complex and some of it was in use of the militants while the rest was kept for rainy days, which never came.

The arms and ammunition recovered from the complex included, light machine guns, heavy machine guns, Klashnikov rifles, rocket propelled grenade, rockets, suicide belts, night vision devices, masks, petrol bombs, improvised explosive devices, anti-personnel and anti-tank mines, hand grenades and a huge number of live rounds of various calibers.

Director General ISPR Major General Waheed Arshad said that Lt. Col. Haroon (Shaheed) was a brave and daring officer of the Special Services Group of Pakistan Army. He said he was on a mission to rescue the captives of the complex and laid his life at the hands of militants who targeted him during the darkness of the night.

He said the Shaheed Col. had created breaches in the walls of Hafsa at two different places and later was spotted by militants while on his way back after accomplishing his task.

He said (Col Haroon) set real example of valour and bravery by laying down his life for the cause of the safety of women and children. Major General Waheed said 85 people were rescued alive from the complex of whom 56 were males and rest females. He said 39 of them were under the age of 18 years.