No ‘enlightened Islam’ in Pakistan to be allowed: cleric

By IANS

Islamabad : Lal Masjid's chief cleric, in the eye of a storm for abducting Chinese massage parlour employees last week and threatening more kidnappings, says he will not allow "enlightened Islam" to prevail in Pakistan.


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"Shaking hands with women is not allowed in Islam and all the massage centres, dance and music parties are un-Islamic," Maulana Abdul Aziz said Saturday.

He vowed that that they would not allow such kind of "enlightened Islam" in the country, The News said Sunday.

He also justified carrying arms by his brother and deputy chief, Maulana Abdul Rashid Ghazi, saying: "Carrying weapons is according to the Sunnah."

Even as the Pakistan government was attempting damage control with the Chinese authorities after the mosque's armed volunteers held six Chinese workers including women at a massage parlour June 23, another kidnapping was attempted last Thursday.

The students of Lal Masjid reportedly tried to raid yet another massage centre run by "an influential personality".

"Fortunately, the city police rushed to the spot forcing the vigilantes to flee," the newspaper said.

This is not for the first time that the Jamia Fareedia and Jamia Hafsa students, both boys and girls that the mosque controls, have flouted laws. However, foreigners have become their targets for the first time in the last six months of their drive to 'Talibanise' Islamabad.

Militants say the massage parlours double as brothels and they would not allow this.

The newspaper said police officials "dread" to even pass by the Lal Masjid in the heart of this capital and prefer to report at the Police Lines rather than at the Aabpara Police station under which the mosque-seminary complex falls.

President Pervez Musharraf Friday said that he had invited Imam-e-Kaaba, the faith's highest priest, to intercede in this standoff since the militants were armed.

He disclosed that they belonged to the banned Jaish-e-Mohammed, responsible for much of terror-violence in Jammu and Kashmir, and that they had connections with Al Qaeda.

Insisting that he was "not cowardly" in dealing with them, Musharraf said he wanted to avoid civilians' bloodshed since the militants had explosives.

As he promised tough action, the clerics Saturday threatened "forceful retaliation" if the government launched an operation to evict them.

"We have read the statement by Mr Musharraf and we want to warn him that in case of an operation against our mosque and the seminary we will put up a very forceful retaliation," said Abdur Rashid Ghazi.

Interior Secretary Syed Kamal Shah, meanwhile, said the government had deployed paramilitary Rangers around the mosque-seminary complex.

Shah told a private TV channel that the militants had thwarted the government's offer of talks and the seminary administration was taking "undue advantage of this gesture", The News said.

"The government would never allow anyone to make a state within the state," he warned.

Giving hitherto unknown details of the raid on the Chinese parlour, Daily Times said: "With no police and Rangers in sight, the young seminarians thrashed the 'sinful' folk to their heart's content. The cries of the victims pulled in many from the neighbourhood including security guards, but seeing the situation they preferred to stay away."

The drama of punishing people with "bad morals" on the spot lasted for almost half an hour before they were bundled into vehicles and taken to Lal Masjid.

After listening to the moral lessons for more than 12 hours, the hostages were set free. "The Chinese women were wearing burqas when they got out of the seminary."

In order to satisfy the governments of the friendly countries, especially of China, the city police booked the top cleric of the mosque and his deputy for kidnapping the Chinese nationals and a few Pakistanis. But neither the clerics nor their students faced any action for reasons not explained by the government.

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