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Female students at a religious school in Islamabad release police held hostage
Two policemen being held by female students at a religious school in Islamabad have been released as part of a prisoner exchange involving two of the school's teachers detained in connection with an earlier raid on a suspected brothel.
The policemen were released late on Wednesday.
Abdul Rashid Ghazi, one of the teachers, said: "It's very simple, they released our two teachers and, in exchange, our students released their people and vehicles under the agreement."
Anti-vice drive
Earlier in the week, women from the school raided a house they said was a brothel as part of a private anti-vice drive, abducting the woman who owned the house, two of her relatives and a baby.
Ghazi said the students had abducted the women after she refused to shut down her business.
Tension increased on Wednesday when security agencies arrested two female teachers from the school and two other followers in connection with the incident and imams from the mosque and their followers detained two policemen and seized two police vehicles in response.
Ghazi, who is said to have been involved in a bomb plot in 2004, said his religious students were still holding the three women they accused of prostitution, as well as the baby.
"We are asking the government to register a case against them for their release," Ghazi said, adding that the women would be set free if they repented and gave up prostitution.
Abdul Rashid Niazi, a senior police official, said the police were prepared to take "legal action" to have the women freed.
"We hope that they will release the women today, but if that does not happen we will take necessary legal action," he said.
The mosque's anti-vice drive comes as Pervez Musharraf, the Pakistani president, warned in a speech on Pakistan's national day of the spread of Islamist "extremism" in Pakistani society.
Mosque demolition
The authorities in Islamabad have for months also been at odds with religious leaders and their followers at the mosque, which is known locally for its anti-government and anti-US stand, over government attempts to demolish mosques illegally built on public land.
Women from the religious school occupied a library next to their mosque in January to protest against efforts by the city authorities to demolish illegally built mosques.
City authorities had offered alternative sites for mosques earmarked for demolition, though they later abandoned the campaign.
More
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/3FF84859-544A-4503-B1A0-944A64364AF4.htm
Abdul Rashid Ghazi, one of the teachers, said: "It's very simple, they released our two teachers and, in exchange, our students released their people and vehicles under the agreement."
Anti-vice drive
Earlier in the week, women from the school raided a house they said was a brothel as part of a private anti-vice drive, abducting the woman who owned the house, two of her relatives and a baby.
Ghazi said the students had abducted the women after she refused to shut down her business.
Tension increased on Wednesday when security agencies arrested two female teachers from the school and two other followers in connection with the incident and imams from the mosque and their followers detained two policemen and seized two police vehicles in response.
Ghazi, who is said to have been involved in a bomb plot in 2004, said his religious students were still holding the three women they accused of prostitution, as well as the baby.
"We are asking the government to register a case against them for their release," Ghazi said, adding that the women would be set free if they repented and gave up prostitution.
Abdul Rashid Niazi, a senior police official, said the police were prepared to take "legal action" to have the women freed.
"We hope that they will release the women today, but if that does not happen we will take necessary legal action," he said.
The mosque's anti-vice drive comes as Pervez Musharraf, the Pakistani president, warned in a speech on Pakistan's national day of the spread of Islamist "extremism" in Pakistani society.
Mosque demolition
The authorities in Islamabad have for months also been at odds with religious leaders and their followers at the mosque, which is known locally for its anti-government and anti-US stand, over government attempts to demolish mosques illegally built on public land.
Women from the religious school occupied a library next to their mosque in January to protest against efforts by the city authorities to demolish illegally built mosques.
City authorities had offered alternative sites for mosques earmarked for demolition, though they later abandoned the campaign.
More
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/3FF84859-544A-4503-B1A0-944A64364AF4.htm
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