ISLAMABAD, July 7 (Xinhua) -- Pakistan's Federal Minister for Political Affairs Amir Muqam Saturday said it was not acceptable to the government that somebody formed a state within the state and imposed his views on others.

    Speaking to the state-run PTV, Muqam said that it was unfortunate that some politicians were linking the issue of the Lal Masjid mosque to other political matters.

    To a question, he said that the children imprisoned in the mosque were responsibility of the whole nation and the responsibility lay on the administration of Lal Masjid to resolve the issue.

    The clerics in the mosque were to blame for the armed confrontation, he said, adding that parents of the children inside the mosque were worried for their safety.

    Muqam said that the Aziz brothers had revealed their true face as they were working for their ulterior motives.

    These people can do anything to achieve their nefarious designs, he added.

    Muqam said that incidents of extremism were not a service to the nation and Pakistan's image was damaged by these illegal activities.

    He said that delay in the completion of operation was for saving innocent lives and should not be construed as a weakness of the government.

    Early Saturday, a series of blasts and gunfire continued around the besieged Red Mosque in the Pakistani capital of Islamabad on the fifth day of the operation against the armed people in the mosque.

    Head of the Lal Masjid mosque, Maulana Abdul Aziz, was arrested Wednesday night as he came out of the mosque in "Burqa" with a group of Jamia Hafsa female students and tried to escape.

    His younger brother, Maulana Abdul Rashid Ghazi, claimed Saturday that more than 70 of his students had been slain by government gunfire.

    But the government said that that only 19 people had been killed since Tuesday's firing.

    On Friday, Ghazi, deputy chief of Lal Masjid, vowed that he and his followers were determined to fight till death.

    "We are ready to lay down arms, but we should not be arrested," he said, adding, "We are ready to be martyred."