By IANS
Islamabad : Pakistan Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz Wednesday evening said that a security operation at Lal Masjid was "the last option" and that the government would continue efforts to ensure that students holed up in the seminary surrendered.
His statement came after a special meeting of the cabinet even as clerics and others inside the mosque remained defiant.
The number of those leaving the mosque complex to surrender was trickling down, reports said.
There was no word about the possibility of talks as the latest deadline for surrender announced by the government, extended repeatedly, expired.
Aziz said that he was personally monitoring the situation.
Meanwhile, Pakistani news website Online said that the federal cabinet had decided that no negotiations would be held with the administration of Lal Masjid, emphasising that surrendering to the authorities was the only option left to those still holding out.