By IANS
Islamabad : In his first address to the nation after liberating Lal Masjid from terrorists, Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf Thursday vigorously defended the military operation, saying extremists holed up inside the Islamabad mosque were using women and children as shields.
Calling the occupation of Lal Masjid by extremists “shameful,” Musharraf in his televised address to the nation said that the Islam they presumed to represent was not the true Islam that taught love for humanity.
“What kind of Islam were they representing? Nobody has the right to take anybody’s life. Allah gives life and Allah takes it,” Musharraf said.
“A human being’s murder is the murder of humanity. Which Islam were they advocating?” he asked.
Musharraf stressed that his government tried its best to resolve the standoff through dialogue, but that the extremists left him with no option but to use force.
“It wasn’t a question of taking lives, but of saving lives of women and children,” Musharraf said while stressing that it was restraint that led to the rescue of 2,300 women and children from the Lal Masjid. He paid homage to the security personnel killed in the operation.
Musharraf also vehemently repudiated the impression that it was a “political gimmick” as alleged by some critics, saying his government was opposed to all forms of terrorism and extremism.
The Pakistan president said the recent kidnapping of seven Chinese nationals by Pakistani extremists was a “shameful” act – and particularly so since it was directed against China, a country that had stood by Pakistan in difficult times.