A Pakistani paramilitary soldier stands guard as radical Muslim students sit after their surrender near Lal Masjid or Red Mosque in Islamabad July 4, 2007. (Xinhua/AFP Photo)
ISLAMABAD, July 4 (Xinhua) -- Over 300 students
Wednesday left the seminaries in the Pakistani capital to surrender before the
authorities.
The authorities have adopted a strategy to observe
utmost restraint to avoid bloodshed, law enforcement officials told the private
Geo TV.
The strategy has produced positive results and more
than 100 female and 200 male students of the seminaries affiliated to the Lal
Masjid mosque have surrendered before the officials, they said.
Pakistani President General Pervez Musharraf has
announced payment of 5000 rupees (one U.S. dollar is about 60 rupees) as travel
expenses to each student who will lay down arms.
The parents have been advised to reach a wagon stand
near the mosque to take their children back home.
Early Wednesday, the Pakistani government decided to
launch operation and impose curfew near the red mosque in the capital following
Tuesday's bloodshed clashes between religious students and security forces.
Shoot order has been issued to those who come out
armed from the mosque, Lal Masjid. And the government has ordered the mosque
leaders to surrender.
According to the private Geo TV, Pakistani President
General Pervez Musharraf said that the deaths in Lal Masjid incident were quite
deplorable.
A high-level meeting chaired by Musharraf discussed
all options including operation against the Lal Masjid management.
The meeting also reviewed the public reaction in
connection with the operation of Lal Masjid.
The clashes have killed at least nine people,
including a security man, a journalist, three bystanders and four students,
according to official figures.
ISLAMABAD, July 4 (Xinhua) -- The Pakistani government
Wednesday again asked students and leaders at a mosque in the capital to
surrender to amicably resolve the standoff in the mosque.
"We are not giving an exact time for the surrender
but we want immediate solution. If the mosque and seminary were not vacated,
then action would be taken," Minister of State for Information Tariq Azeem said.
Full story
ISLAMABAD, July 3 (Xinhua) -- The clash between Pakistani
religious students of Lal Masjid, or Red Mosque, and the law enforcers on
Tuesday afternoon left a total of 9 people dead and many others injured in
Islamabad, the interior ministry said.
The killed comprised one soldier, four religious
students, three passers-by and one cameraman, said Zafar Iqbal Wariach, State
Minister of Interior, while addressing a news briefing here. Full story
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