By DPA
Islamabad : Angry Pakistani police chiefs have withdrawn 10,000 officers earmarked for a possible storming operation against a radical mosque in Islamabad after they were abandoned without food, water or accommodation by authorities, media reported Sunday.
Constables drafted into the capital this month from the Punjab province during an escalation of the government's row with clerics at the Lal Masjid, or Red Mosque, spent days sleeping rough in parks and on footpaths, often forced to beg supplies from nearby homes.
Many were brought into the city on an hour's notice and left without spare clothing or money and had no contact with their families, the Nation newspaper reported
Some who had found shelter in other mosques were driven out when clerics learned they were being kept in reserve for an operation against the Red Mosque and adjacent madrassa religious school, where administrators were holding several police officers hostage after some of their students were arrested.
Thousands of police left the city Saturday night and returned to their districts.
The stand-off with the mosque was partially defused last week when the last two of four police hostages were released. But two brothers that run the complex continue to demand the introduction of strict Islamic Sharia law in Pakistan.
They have threatened a wave of suicide bombings if they are attacked and automatic weapons are known to be kept on the premises.
The government says it will resolve the situation through dialogue and that the use of force is a last resort. But police chiefs have said a planned crackdown against the mosque has only been postponed and not abandoned, according the paper.
More than 5,000 extra policemen who were brought in from Punjab reportedly remain in the city.