By IANS
Islamabad : Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf Friday said he had invited Imam-e-Kaaba, Islam's highest cleric, to resolve the stand-off over Lal Masjid and that the dialogue with the militants would be "through Allah."
The invitation to the high priest of the mosque at Kaaba in Saudi Arabia had been sent "with mutual consent", he said, indicating that the two brothers, Ghazi Abdur Rashid and Maulana Abdul Aziz, who have been controlling the Lal Masjid mosque since March, and a bunch of armed students, both boys and girls, had been consulted.
Musharraf said this in reply to a question at a media workshop at the National Defence University, The News reported Friday.
His announcement came amidst reports that authorities in the Pakistani capital have said they would not raid the Lal Masjid seminary complex even as the militant clergy controlling it threatened more abduction of those indulging in "un-Islamic acts."
Rashid told Dawn News that he did not justify suicide attacks, but would not hesitate to use this ploy, if attacked, "as the last resort in self-defence."
He and Aziz have claimed that the government had assured them that they had no plans to raid the seminary complex.
"Deputy Commissioner Chaudhry Muhammad Ali and Assistant Commissioner Farasat Ali Khan have assured me over the phone that the government is not planning any action against us," Ghazi told the Daily Times.
The newspaper said the militants are "shrugging off" the presence of contingents of police and the para-military Rangers around the complex.
The militants had earlier raided a Chinese-run massage parlour in the city, holding nine persons, including six Chinese, hostage for 36 hours, alleging that the place was being run as a brothel. They were released so as not to harm Sino-Pak relations, Ghazi later said.
The incident caused the Chinese to demand better protection for their workers across Pakistan when Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao visited Beijing last Monday.
The Lal Masjid militants are also armed, with Ghazi claiming that the arms were licensed, but declining to give their numbers.
"We do not want a Taliban-style government, but we are against the present system and want an Islamic welfare system in Pakistan," the Dawn news channel quoted him as saying.
Meanwhile, the government has sought to pre-empt the militants by conducting its own raids on brothels, massage parlours and video parlours, seizing huge quantities of arms, liquor, pornographic material and opium.