Pak Mosque Standoff Reaches Dead-end

"We announced to release two policemen as a goodwill gesture, but if the government doesn't accpet our offer, then we can't do anything in this regard," Red Mosque's deputy leader Abdul Rasheed Ghazi told IslamOnline.net.

"We will release the four cops only when our eleven students abducted by security agencies are released," he added.

Dozens of students from a madrassah, or seminary, attached to the Red Mosque late Friday, May 18, seized the four policemen and took them inside, demanding the release of 11 colleagues picked up by intelligence agencies recently.

Armed police took up positions on Saturday close to the mosque, while students armed with batons blocked some nearby roads.

Ghazi said the four policemen were on a "spying mission" outside the mosque when taken hostage.

"We had already advised the local administration not to carry out such acts which could aggravate the situation, but it chose to ignore our warnings," he
said.

Interior Minister Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao, Interior Secretary Syed Kamal Shah and senior security officials started negotiating with Hafsa officials late on Friday night.

Ghazi revealed that negotiations with a government delegation led by Chaudhry Shujjat to release the 11 students started last month, but got nowhere.

The Red Mosque stand-off represents the latest challenge facing President Pervez Musharraf amid a political crisis over the suspension of the country's top judge.

Mosques Dilemma

Ghazi further said the government has dragged its feet over the re-building of seven mosques demolished by the Capital Development Authority (CDA), which helped unnerve the students.

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