ISLAMABAD, July 7 (Xinhua) -- Pakistani government is avoiding full-fledged military operation against the Lal Masjid mosque and seminary complex as it does not want massive bloodshed, the state minister for interior said Saturday.

    Pakistan's Minister of State for Interior Zafar Iqbal Waraich made the remarks during an interview with a private TV channel.

    Hundreds of male and female students are believed to remain inside the Lal Masjid or Red Mosque compound.

    The state minister said that 1,221 students, including 795 boys and 426 girls, have come out and hoped that the circumstances would force others to surrender gradually.

    To a question about the deadline of the operation, Waraich saidit depends on the surrender of Abdul Rasheed Ghazi, deputy chief of Lal Masjid, and his followers, who continued to be defiant as the standoff entered into a fifth day Saturday.

    Talking to Geo News TV channel in an earlier interview, Ghazi said, "We have decided that we can be martyred but we will not surrender."

    Waraich said if Ghazi and his followers surrender within half-an-hour, the operation will end and the nation will then come out of the current tense situation.

    To another question, the official said if the government uses force the operation would end within an hour.

    Appealing to the remaining students to come out of the mosque, Waraich said the surrendered people would not be humiliated. However, he added that the wanted people will be dealt with according to law.

    The state minister said there are reasons for the slow surrender movement as there are some desperate militants inside who have held many boys and girls hostages.

    A series of blasts and gunfire continued around besieged Lal Masjid Saturday.

    A delegation of Islamist politicians from religious party Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal(MMA), wanting to convince Abdul Rashid Ghazi to allow women and children to leave, have been denied access to the mosque.

    Troops surrounded the mosque on July 4, a day after tensions between Lal Masjid followers and security personnel deployed outside the mosque erupted into deadly street clashes, which so far have left at least 19 people killed and over 100 injured.