By NNN-APP
Islamabad : Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Muhammad Ali Durrani Friday urged political and religious leaders, intellectuals, NGOs, and general public to apply pressure on Lal Masjid-Jamia Hafsa administration to let the innocent children, female and male students come out of the premises of the mosque.
“Islamic values do not allow endangering innocent lives. The government is avoiding strict action against the Lal Masjid keeping in view possible loss of lives among children, girl and boy students of the seminary,� he said.
He was addressing a joint press conference with Secretary Information Syed Anwar Mehmood, Secretary Interior Syed Kamal Shah, Director General Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Maj. Gen. Arshad Waheed and Brig. Javed Iqbal Cheema here at the PID Media Center.
“We have the information of presence of children along with female and male students in the premises of Jamia Hafsa. The President and the Prime Minister, in the meeting held on Thursday, had directed the law enforcement authorities that the children and female students should be given all possible opportunity to save their lives. They also directed that the mosque should not be targeted and no damage should be done to it,� he said.
The Minister said that the government had information that the children and students were being prevented from leaving the premises.
“The Lal Masjid authorities are neither allowing the children and students to leave the premises nor are they allowing the parents of these children to enter the Lal Masjid premises so as they could get their children out of the mosque,� he said.
He said the security forces had allowed some parents of the children to enter the Lal Masjid on Friday to try to secure release of their children. But, he added, the parents of the children were fired at and one of them was injured and admitted to hospital.
“This is an unbearable behaviour by the Lal Masjid authorities. I appeal to the people to urge the Lal Masjid authorities to let the children and female out of the seminary,� he said and added that the entire nation wanted a peaceful resolution to the issue.�
Minister Durrani told the journalists that almost all the female and male students who came out had been sent to their respective homes after their registration.
He said that after getting the feedback, the authorities have also been directed not to ask those coming out to surrender to take off their shirts.
“Their shirts were taken off just to ensure that they were not wearing suicide bombers’ jackets,� he said.
He also said that social worker Bilquees Eidhi had appealed to the Lal Masjid authorities to allow the children and girls students to get out of the Lal Masjid premises.
He said the government was facing the public pressure to take action against the Lal Masjid authorities since January 2007.
“Almost all the political and religious parties, NGOs, civil society organizations and intellectuals were putting pressure on the government to resolve the issue,� he said, adding that the key to the resolution of the issue was with the Jamia Hafsa administration and not the government.
“This is the time that the nation should build pressure on the Lal Masjid authorities for the release of the children and girl students.The weapons are not solution to the issue as the weapons have never brought resolution to the issues worldwide.� he said.
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