Tuesday’s clash in Islamabad at Lal Masjid left 10 dead and over 160 people injured if not more. I stand here dejected yet again at seeing my country in a state of turmoil, its sad but 2007 has been a rocky road for Pakistan. It started in early March when the state attempted to assault the Independence of the Judiciary, it then lead to the shocking events of May 12th where Karachi literally bled while the President of Pakistan stood by watching and celebrating a rent-a-crowd rally and now we live another climax with the stand-off at the Lal Masjid
As I pen this article I hear of a probable attack by the Army Special Services Group in an attempt to take over this siege and not continue to embrace Musharraf even further. All Hospitals in Islamabad have been placed on high alert, showing definite signs of an Arnold Schwarzenegger style invasion where the army will go guns blazing in an attempt to kill all the bad guys (!!!). It may seem like a Hollywood scripted pitch dark invasion but Musharraf for his dear life cannot let this issue continue even a day longer, as he is already bleeding from a number of wounds and this can become a yet another gaping wound if left unchecked.
A lot many people may feel this Lal Masjid brigade is just another freak show following on the footsteps of Osama Bin Ladin, it could very well be. But try to understand the mindset of Muslims since 2001. Since the fateful day on Sept 11th the world has been chanting against Al-Qaida which over time has become a drive against Muslims. We remain witness to the numerous terror plots over the years that the first suspicious finger is pointed usually at the bearded fellow standing in the corner of the crowded room. Its usually a case of guilty before innocence.
Classic examples come from real life experiences from Muslims like me who get pulled over for the lucky ‘Random Special Screening’ on each flight I take across the US. This Random screening serves me the honor to a strip to my underwear search as it I were to attack the plane with a toothpick stuck up my ass, I often am thankful that I do not not sport a full beard as then the random searching would have been a little more aggressive as stereotyping is generally the norm for all middle eastern looking bearded individuals. I do concede and would agree that being a casual tourist to the land of the free I have no rights, but such repeated treatment does take its toll on the heart and the mind.
The Lal Masjid Brigade is very good example of an organization driven to the extremist right definitely a creation by the values of its religious leaders, but one cannot blame them entirely for such a mindset without taking into consideration the immense global pressure on Muslims, and then to top it off, the President of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan starts to embrace the Anti-Muslim values openly by preaching the concept of Enlightened Moderation. A term often used to advocate the religious right to embrace the western concept of living, definitely a tough pill to swallow for any Islamic religious scholar. Its easy to advocate and expect others to change, while it would have taken a liberal an eternity to inch towards the religious right. Mindset cannot be expected to change over night as it takes years to bring sense to a logical argument specially in the case of a diverse concept of Enlightened Moderation to a devout hard lined Muslim.
In an earlier post back in March I discussed an chain SMS roaming around throughout the cellular networks in Pakistan which claimed that the age of 64 is cursed for Pakistani Presidents and Musharraf will turn 64 in 2007, I cant say for sure if his end is near but I strongly feel the indications are turning from a simple bad year to a disastrous year and there is no sign of relief any where in his future. Honest advise to Musharraf, which may be a bit too late, is to take a graceful exit like Tony Blair, but then, the greed of the seat curse will most likely lead to yet another hallmark disgraceful exit by yet another Pakistani dictator, history tends to repeat itself, but will they ever learn….
I fear as I finish this blog post and publish it online the scenario would have changed, I dread the morning I see will be a different Pakistan, a bloody Lal Masjid and the bureaucracy clambering to defend the killing of hundred of insurgents, but then would this be the end of the uprising from the religious right? I fear otherwise, it is bound to spark a strong reaction throughout the country and we will be witness to more bloodshed, these Lal Masjid Shaheeds will be the hero’s for those radical right which had remained silent either by force or by choice, but now to fight not for the whim of the ghost of United States as preached by Osama Bin Laden but instead a far more tangible cause, a Jihad against the growing evils of society, I assure you its not a far fetched argument to motivate a committed believer to plant a bomb at a video shop in Karachi.
Pakistani Blogoshpere is abuzz with articles on the Lal Masjid. literally everyone needs to be carefully read to have a good perspective of the entire situation, but a general consensus remains a shock as to what is happening to our country
- The Canvas – Radicals Sortie part deux! Coming Soon!
- Micro Pakistan – Lal Masjid Crisis Boils Over
- The Pakistani Spectator – Islamabad is Burning
- Islamabad Metroblogs – Lal Masjid: The Opinion Pool, CURFEW Finalized, Special Forces Assemble at Lal Masjid!
- All Things Pakistan – Pakistan Readies for Battle
Comments
27 responses to “Blood Bath at the Lal Masjid”
nicely put.
nicely put….but my qs is. Are the Ulema of the country with what Lal masjid is upto.
Is Lal Masjids manifesto accepted by the majority of Pakistanis.
The real questions which need an answer are the ones which i have put above.
However i believe, the death of all the people involved in yesterdays action and God knows for how long it is going to go on further rests entirely on the Lal Masjid walas.
Its not a jungle where the ideology of a few can be thrusted upon all.
We are in the 21st Century…the rest of the world has taken the quantum leap in to the race of technology and development.
The dilemma of Pakistan is though blessed with the worlds best resources in form be it natural minerals, crops and the basic and most important natural resource being water. And we would be pretty self sufficient in it if we can manage it rather leaving it go wasted in the indian ocean.
Where some people with vested interests never would want us to be independent and have our own lives. Scenarios such as Lal Masjid would keep on occuring.
if I were you I wouldnt even think to visit that LAND OF FREE-DUMB. Why one should spend their money to GET INSULTED while on a holiday trip??
Its outrageous!
Initially, almost all the Islamic scholars were discouraging the way of Ghazi brethren and now there’re students of Jamia Al-Ashrafia blocking Ferozpur Road in protest against government and students of Jamia Binoria crying over the killings of innocents inside the mosque on TV.
May God forbid but I see Mufti Rafi’ Uthmani’s prediction (in case of use of power in this matter) about eruption of sort of civil war coming true. And I don’t really know if we can interlink the suicide attack on the military convoy with this matter.
I think it would be one step further to alienate the madarassah people.
If the guy had to escape in Burqa why even go to this extreme of stand off with the govt?
They would have been better off with peaceful protests instead of occupying the children library.
BTW, there seems to be something cooking in Karachi too. I heard one of MQM EX_MPA was shot at. Who else could it be? other than a rift-with-in….lets wait and see.
Salam
Lal msjid ppl have done right thing with wrong method and government is doing wrong thing with nore wrong method jst to show toworld that we are against muslim terrorism ..where infactthee is no terrorism to spreading islam or saying for islamic environment.Government is doing what i know better..
In my opinion this matter should have been sovled months ago if current regime had shown some sincerity. The truth is that President Musharraf wanted this matter to be prolonged and get adequate media attention, so that the matter of chief justice is overhshadowed and forgotten. Unfortunately,the illegimate Pakistani President have been quite successful in doing so. The cheif justice issue was gathering momentum and threatening Musharraf’s establishment. The issue of Red mosque came as a lifeline for President Musharraf and he made full use of it. It is deeply regretful to see to what extent a ruler can go to save his own regime.
wallah ho alim we r with those who r just and only god knows the truth he is the greatest “munsif” and will do insaaf inshallah latter or sooner its upto him
i think v should avoid making any kind of statements regarding the issue,without knowing the details.but i personally feel dat islam should and can b spread through love n peaceful ways.that is eaxactly what our prophet (s.a.w)has preached.islam can never b spread forcefully.v should pray 2 ALLAH 2 shower his blessings on all those who lost there lives.in short i wud say dat only ALLAH KNOWS DA TRUTH.
government is d responsible of this blood
Bravo!!!
u put the thoughts and feelings of 99% of the silent population into words…
you are marvellous..
did’t u watch the gazi shaheed face “he was smilling” allah say’s in quran :”dont say the diead shaheed ,they are alive”.
ghzi shaheed will alive in our heart .No matter the shaheed one gazi,but made unlimmited gazi.
allah soonly ll’show the result of the lal masjid event.
more information for the lahoredoor plz
Inshallah this tehreek will continue till the day of judgement and inshallah a day will come when we will see the implementation of sharia in our country musharaf is killer he must ne sentenced to the death
you see when the goverment opened the fire on innocent students at that time it was thundering and storming and what govt did with them ,u know gas elec water food every thing was disconected by govt.now what Allah almighty is doing with the govt we are have a problem of elec food water and gas in our country and u can say this is the khet from Allah
people of lal masjid heve done right thing with right method.they only defend the home of GOD from the YAZEEDES(mush&bush).ISlam give you permition to kill the person coming to you to kill you.the talibat took the sticks in their hand but they not hurt any person exept the police who attacked the talibat at3:00 at night.If the government do some unislamic thing every muslims duty is to stop him.
Salam!
i m Shahida Iqbal&the student of Fatima Jinnah University(Rawalpindi).now-a-days i m working on my project that,s subject is Lal Masjid.i m trying to collect informations about Lal Masjid…i checked ur website…i got grest help for my project. ..but can u mention the main causes about Lal Masjid?what were they main causes of this quarrel?what were the main causes of the difference between Government&Mullahs?i m sending u my mail address.i would be your thankful if u gave me information for my project.
Shahida_fjwu@yahoo.com
thanks for once again.
Allah Hafiz
A small group of people from Lal Masjid tried to take over the role, which the islamic political parties ( so called ) should had taken. But since no islamic party is ready to take this role, this group had to rise and do the righteus even being well aware of their destiny. They knew that their destiny was shahadat, and they did not surrender. I prey all of shaheeds highest rutba un jannah. On the other hand Mush did all what he was ordered by Bush. Insha allah, Allah will take the revenge of innocents from him. But I fear that do we, common citizens are also not responsible, for what happenend ? We sat in our bed rooms, just seeing on the television, what happened. I believe that if Jamaat Islami would had collected just one hundred of its karkunan, this event would not happen. Mush will get the punishment, but whole pakistani nation seems also not being spared without a sabaq.
I will just ask one question from those liberals who are either against or not supporting my brave sisters and brothers of Lal Masjid.
THAT
If stopping people like Anti Shamim and the Chinese from running brothels in Islamabad is such a big sin that Dog Mush has martyred hundreds of innocent girls whose heart was full of Quran.
Those who say that method of Lal Masjid is not correct. I will ask them to tell us the correct method. I agree that it is police duty to clear such elements from the society, but what if Police is not doing its duty. E.g. Its Municipality duty to throw away the dirt from your house and streets, but if they are not doing there duty. you will not strive to clean your street from these dirts.
If any one has any question on the method and cause of Lal masjid Pls. pose it here i will answer.
Just Liston to Jumma sermons of Maulana Abdul Aziz, Every thing will be cleared like crystal.
Assalamo Alikum!
Musharaf a big terrorist did lots of cruelty on lal masjid………….he called students of lal masjid terrorist.but they were not………media showed a lot against lal masjid that was totally wrong…….now-a-days pakistan is going in dangerous situation.its because of lal masjid and it is the wrath of allah………….the students of lal masjid were poor students…..they only want to establish shariya in pakistan……there should be shariya in pakistan because we are muslims and ummah of prophet(S.A.W).
asalam o alikum,,, meray khayal say lal masjid may koi desht grd ni tha,,,,,, agr kalma prna desht gardi hay ,,,,to hmsb desht grd hain,,, asl may desht grd musharraf,zardari, altaf hussain, fazlu rehman hain,,,,,,,,ye pakitan k dushman or yahoud (jews)k dost hain………..
ALLAH pakistan ko apni hifazat may rakhay or jald in huk murano say hmy nijat dilay (_ameen)
aslam o alikum allah ne jo qurbani jameah ke behnon or bhaeyon se li hay us ka badla insha allah zaroor mele ga .. nasruminallahe wa fathun qareeb
Aslamo alaikum
1st i dedicates a lot of laaaaaaanat to musharaf then i pray to allah special 4 musharaf inshallah i believe that he will go to hell inshallah. all reader people say inshallah.
lal masjid's mujahid and jamia hafss sisters wants to only shariya of islam
if we are true muslim we have to accepted that lal masjid was going to right way. inshallah will have dne that mission
all peoples know that
pakistan ka matlab kiya
la illah il allah.
jazakallah
Assahal-o-Alaikum Wa Rahmattull-e-Wa Barakatho,
Lal Masjid act was like one of the animal act by idio and qadiani pervaiz musharaf. This action was taken by qadiani pervaiz musharaf because america wanted him to do and he did. Lal was one of the best islamic cultural tutor center in pakistan, it was providing islamic ideoligy to our brothers and sisters and lal masjid was teaching our brothers and sister islamic way of life and about Jihad for Islamd, which american and europe did not like at all. And also the war america and europe started against islam to destroy islamic values and they hire Musharaf for it. Also Dr. Fauzia Siddiqui is also victim of that war and Musharaf sold that that daughter of islamd for $25,000,000. Musharaf should be hanged in public place for those crimes.
Assahal-o-Alaikum Wa Rahmattull-e-Wa Barakatho,
Lal Masjid act was like one of the animal act by idiot and qadiani pervaiz musharaf. This action was taken by qadiani pervaiz musharaf because america wanted him to do and he did. Lal Masjid was one of the best islamic cultural tutor center in pakistan, it was providing islamic ideology to our brothers and sisters and lal masjid was teaching our brothers and sister islamic way of life and about Jihad for Islam, which american and europe did not like at all. And also the war america and europe started against islam to destroy islamic values and they hire Musharaf for it. Also Dr. Fauzia Siddiqui is victim of that war and Musharaf sold that daughter of islamd for $25,000,000 to America. Musharaf should be hanged in public place for those crimes. And I believe pakistani people have the right to kill musharaf in public pleace so that no other pervaiz musharaf can come back and play dirty games in Islamic Republic of Pakistn.
Riaz Ahmed,
Don't just blame Musharraf, our whole (Na)Pak army should be accounted for it as they stood behind Musharraf.
Now they are using Mush as scape goat just like Mush used Dr.Qadeer as scape goat. Whats goes around comes around.
Musharraf used to say that I would never run…where is that Khaki commando now? dish-washing at McDonalds in Texas?
if any body want to say something first isay that musharaff did well coz before opration he warned them again and again "srunder either every body in lal masjid will be killed. he did his job and no more………………..