PAKISTAN: OPERATION SILENCE

 

 

1.         The controversial Lal Masjid (Red Mosque) that was the focus of a bloody confrontation between Pakistani security forces and radical clerics and students is located near the centre of the capital, Islamabad. Red Mosque, which is located near the headquarters of Pakistan's shadowy ISI intelligence service, which helped train and fund the holy warriors, and a number of ISI staff are said to go there for prayers; is a religious school for women, the Jamia Hafsa madrassa, is attached to the mosque. A male madrassa is a few minutes drive away. On 10 July, Pakistan's elite commandos led an assault on the Red Mosque (Lal Masjid) and the school complex attached to it after militants holed up inside refused to surrender following a week-long siege. The standoff began after deadly 3 July street clashes with supporters of the mosque. The commando force succeeded in wresting complete control of the complex from the militants on 11 July. According to Pakistani officials, the mosque sought to inculcate students with a radical brand of Sunni Islam. The attacks come after Islamist clerics – including leaders of extremist groups in Afghanistan and even Egypt – called for revenge for the Pakistani military's raid on the Red Mosque.

2.         Throughout most of its existence, the mosque has long been favored by the city elite, including prime ministers, army chiefs and presidents. Pakistan's longest-ruling dictator, General Zia-ul-Haq, was said to be very close to the former head of the Lal Masjid, Maulana Abdullah, who was famous for his speeches on jihad (holy war). This was during the 1980s when the mujahideen's fight against Soviet invasion of Afghanistan was at its peak, and jihad was seen as an acceptable clarion call in the Muslim world.

'Terror links'

3.         The Lal Masjid has since been a centre of radical Islamic learning and houses several thousand male and female students in adjacent seminaries. Maulana Abdullah was assassinated in the mosque in late nineties, and since then the entire complex has been run by his sons, Maulana Abdul Aziz and Abdul Rashid Ghazi. The brothers admit to having had good contacts with many of the wanted leaders of al-Qaeda, including Osama Bin Laden. This was in the years before the 11 September, 2001 attacks on the US, when jihad was part of Pakistan's state-sanctioned policy. Since the "war on terror" began, however, both the Lal Masjid and the Jamia Hafsa deny having had any links with organizations now banned for supporting terrorism. But they have been vehement in their support for the "jihad against America" and have openly condemned President Musharraf.

Tribal areas

4.         In speeches after Gen Musharraf openly announced his support for the war on terror", the mosque has been the centre of calls for his assassination. One of these speeches was delivered by Maulana Masood Azhar, whose Jaish-e-Mohammad fundamentalist group members were later involved in several failed attempts on the life of the president. Gen Musharraf is thus understandably perturbed by the mosque and its leaders and has repeatedly ordered action against them. So far all attempts to rein the mosque and its leaders in have been unsuccessful. The Lal Masjid and its madrassa also have strong links to the tribal areas of Pakistan, which provide many of their students.

5.         In a recent interview, Abdul Rashid Ghazi said that they had the support of the Waziristan Taliban and any actions against the madrassa would have an "appropriate response". The Lal Masjid and Jamia Hafsa were in the news in July 2005 when Pakistani security forces tried to raid the mosque following the suicide bombings that month in London. The security personnel were met by baton-wielding women who refused to let them enter the mosque or seminary compound. Authorities said the security forces were investigating a link between the seminary and Shehzad Tanweer, one of the 7 July bombers. The school has been in the limelight ever since.

'Fight to death'

6.         The madrassa's administration had also been particularly vocal in raising the issue of missing people in Pakistan - hundreds of suspected radical militants and their families who are allegedly in the detention of Pakistan's intelligence agencies. It was also a leading light in the protests in Pakistan against Danish cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammad which led to demonstrations all over the Muslim world. And it was the Jamia Hafsa which British schoolgirl Misbah Rana, also known as Molly Campbell, was reported to have been interested in joining after arriving in Pakistan at the centre of an international custody row.

7.         The latest controversy to feature the school was when it launched a campaign against the demolition of mosques in Islamabad by the capital authority. After the administration started the demolition of part of the mosque, said to have been constructed illegally, students of the seminaries launched an all-out campaign against them. They prevented the authorities physically from reaching the site and then occupied the building of a nearby children's library. Most of this was done by the female students, many of whom were carrying Kalashnikovs during the occupation. The students then set-up a round the clock vigil and promised to "fight to death" after the government threatened to evict them. The situation was only defused after the authorities backed down and offered talks.

8.         The government had since reconstructed the demolished part of the mosque compound, but the administration maintains that six other mosques around the capital city which have met similar treatment should also be rebuilt. In the meantime, students have remained in occupation of the library and have been involved in other "social activities" like the raid on the hostel.

Inside the Red Mosque

The mosque, located in a central district of the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, was stormed by troops 0n 10 July to clear out Islamic militants holed up inside. For six months, the halls and rooms of Jamia Hafsa, a women's seminary inside the mosque, were home to a new breed of Islamic hardliners - women clad from head to toe in black Islamic veils, and wielding batons and assault rifles. They captured a children's library located on one side of the mosque, kidnapped policemen who had strayed too close to the building, and kept vigil on the roofs of the seminary and the adjoining hostel.

Conduct of Operation

First Reports.          Talks between the government and Lal Masjid had failed. The religious leaders from the government side came back disappointed, and shut off their mobiles. Final operation was given a go ahead. Operation started at 4.30 am on 10 July, after a government's press conference. Severe fighting was going on since 4:45 am. Commandoes entered the complex. More than 70 big explosions were heard. According to reports 2 elite force officers dead, 8 severely injured. The whole of Islamabad was rocking with mega explosions, and intense firing. More than 30 ambulances were deployed and in action. According to the reports by Ghazi Abdul-ur-Rasheed, his mother died during the assault. A significant number of dead bodies were reported inside the complex. According to the military spokesman, the militants were using rocket launchers, grenades, and heavy arms. Meanwhile when the operation started, 20 children were safely recovered. DG ISPR reported that the operation will be completed in 3 hours, and currently militants are present in the basement of the complex. Some militants are showing resistance from the top of the complex. Clouds of heavy smoke were rising from the complex. Islamabad was sealed off from all directions so people coming to the capital from outside should take appropriate measures.

10th July 7:00 AM.  A part of Lal masjid on fire!! Black smoke was rising from the complex. Intense fighting was going on and severe resistance from the militants.

10th July 7:15 AM.  Commandos entered the basement. The top of complex was cleared. 10 big buses dispatched towards Lal Masjid. Intense shelling of tear gas and firing continued and rounds of automatic weapons could be heard from distance. Ghazi Rasheed said he will fight till martyrdom. Security forces dead bodies being rushed to PIMS. 50 people arrested from the complex till now. Residents of G-6 advised not to leave their homes. 70 resistant’s killed or injured in the operation so far.

10th July 7:20 AM.  3 special forces personal died. 20 militant’s casualties. 15 militants injured. Nerve gas used in the basement. Firing reduced a somewhat probably due to causalities within the complex. 40% of the complex under security forces control. A significant portion of the complex was bobby trapped according to the army spokesman.

10th July 7:30 AM.  Firing has subsided a lot, which could probably mean that security forces have essentially taken over a major portion of the complex. Operation probably has moved into its final phases. Media persons not allowed near the quadrant off site, and security personal have been ordered to shoot them on sight. Media people were not allowed near the hospitals too. Scout helicopters flying over the complex.

10th July 7:50 AM.  According to the latest update by the military spokesman, 60% of the complex was cleared. Ghazi Rasheed managed to get in touch with a local television reporting he could see commandoes in the vicinity and then his line disconnected. Army was announcing that those people who want to come out of the complex can come out of the complex with their hands up. There are still women children, and non militant men trapped in the complex.

10th July 8:00 AM.  Situation was critical in PIMS and Poly Clinic. Normal patient relatives pushed out. Media people not allowed entering the hospitals. Police pushing the media out of the hospital and are announcing that they have orders to shoot on sight if anyone tries to enter the hospital.

10th July 8:15 AM.  After over 4 hours of 150 explosions and intense firing from both sides, there is silence around the vicinity of Lal Masjid. Looked like the operation had stopped, and army was making announcements on loud speakers for militants to come out with hands up. The top levels of Jamia Hafsa had been cleared. Only bunkers and basements remained where the militants have retreated.

10th July 8:20 AM.  Maximum area of Jamia Hafsa secured according to unofficial reports. Lal Masjid was being searched by commandoes. According to unconfirmed reports, Ghazi Abdur Rasheed was arrested.

10th July 8:45 AM.  Total of 6 security personal died in the operation according to the reports from the hospital.. According to official reports, a total 40 militants were killed. 24 people were arrested fleeing from the complex. Operation was still going on to clear the basements.

10th July 9:15 AM.  Few more explosions heard at Lal Masjid.

10th July 9:30 AM.  Reserve doctors and apprentice were taken to Lal Masjid. It seemed that a major portion of the complex was secured for deployment of medical personal.

10th July 9:45 AM.  The operation moved into its final phase where security forces seized the militants in the basements, where they were probably keeping the hostage women and children. Heavy explosions followed by sporadic firing being heard from the area. These could either be explosives being set off by the security forces or the possible land mines which were feared to have been planted throughout the complex.

10th July 11:15 AM.            According to the latest updates 7 additional security personnel were dead which included 2 captains from the army SSG and one senior official of elite force. This brought the security personal death toll to 13. Earlier several more militants have surrendered, while siege of underground bunkers continues.

10th July 01:30 PM.            A new update from official sources put the security personal death toll to 8 which includes one captain from the SSG force. In the meanwhile around 24 burqa clad women with 20+ children managed to escape the complex. The operation is now going on in the southern section of the complex. The whole area is under heavy tear gas shelling by security forces, and around 12000 security forces including SSG, Army, and Police have been deployed. A further clarification has been provided by the officials that no nerve gas was used during the operation and stun gernades were used. Also contrary to the earlier reports on the capture of Ghazi Abur Rasheed, he is still at large somewhere inside the complex

10th July 02:00 PM.            Latest unconfirmed reports on the women freed from the complex disclose that among the women who have been brought out of the complex alive include the lady principal of Lal masjid, and wife of Abdul Aziz Ume Hassan, and her daughter Isma.

10th July 02:45 PM.            According to a telephonic interview given to some foreign journalist by one of the occupants of Lal Masjid, Ghazi Abdur Rasheed was still alive inside the complex and is participating in leading the command of resistance from the southern section of the complex. It's the peak of summer season this time around the year here in Islamabad, and the weather of Islamabad was extremely hot right now with a hot breeze blowing. It's the middle of the afternoon and temperature is approximately in the mid 40 degrees centigrade. The children and women inside the complex have been facing heavy tear gas shelling, power cuts, water supply cuts, and traumatizing loud explosions. They have already seen non stop graphic stream of events of death and destruction for over 10 hours now.

10th July 04:15 PM.            According to latest reports, security officials are trying to break into the main hall where Ghazi Abdur Rasheed is supposedly present. Despite earlier calls by the security personal to drop their weapons and come out in the open, no one has responded from the hall. There are concerns that the whole hall is bobby trapped and security personals' break in could trigger explosives and bring down the entire structure. Meanwhile there are reports of investigation being done from the women who have recently been brought out of the complex about the nature of explosives set up in the remaining area as well as possible hostages in the compound to have sufficient information before taking any actions. Security forces have also restricted access of public to the eastern part of blue area.

10th July 06:15 PM.            Members of delegation of religious scholars who were in negotiations with the Lal Masjid administration have blamed the government for taking a U turn on negotiations. According to them the final draft of resolution was agreed on by all parties including senior government officials. However when it was taken to the president house for approval by Chaudary Shujhat, he came back with a totally different copy of the draft with resulted in fall out and bycot by the religious scholars and the Lal Masjid Administration.

10th July 06:45 PM.            Ghazi Abdur Rasheed, Deputy Cleric Of Lal Masjid Killed in Crossfire. According to the latest information, Abdur Rasheed Ghazi, who was leading the militant resistance from within the Lal Masjid after the capture of his brother Abdul Aziz, has been killed in cross fire. He was asked to surrender out of his bunker after being hit in the leg, but he could not come out after 4 hours of siege of his bunker. Later he was killed in exchange of fire. His body is still inside the facility and has not been recovered yet. Security forces are continuing operations in other part of the area and trying to free any additional hostages.

10th July 08:45 PM.            Islamabad was under red alert and a sensitive security zone right now. Security forces are on a look out for mysterious figures, and spot checking being done on any suspicious people. Military forces are securing different sectors for fear of any possible repercussion and backlash of this event as riots have already broken out in other parts of the country including Swat and Kohistan area. Meanwhile operation was still going on in Lal Masjid against hand full of militants who are showing resistance. Once the area has been cleared and sanitized, cleaning forces would move in to secure the area. Reports confirm cousins of Ghazi' have also been killed in the operation. Ghazi's aunts and sisters have requested the government official to hand over ghazi's body to the relatives for proper burial. Security personals are doing spot checks for any suspicious people. Residents of G-6,-G-7,-Bluearea,F-6,F-7 and Diplomatic enclave are advised to take appropriate caution while traveling.

10th July 11:00 PM.            Ghazi Abdur Rasheed's body has been taken out of the Jamia Hafsa Complex. Meanwhile three loud explosions have been heard from Lal Masjid. Operation was still going on. Bodies being sent to I-8 morge.

11th July 01:30 PM.            Reports from last night indicate 3 more militants were killed in exchange of fire, and another security force official was also killed in cross fire. Operation was almost complete, with the clean up second phase already in progress in some parts of the complex. Media personal are told to be taken into the complex sometime later in the afternoon. According to government officials all illegal structures in the Lal Masjid compound which were established on illegally occupied state land would be demolished after the operation is complete. Meanwhile the city is slowly returning back to routine life, however at this time there were no confirmed reports of relaxation in curfew in the affected areas of G-6 sector where the complex is situated. Citizens are advised to take caution traveling in eastern parts of Bluearea, and sectors G-7 and G-5.

Final assault

An army spokesman says none of these women died during the week-long clashes between the troops and the militants. Apparently, there were no female hostages either. But there is speculation that some or all of the nine charred bodies which the army says they have recovered from the building may have been those of women and children.

The interior ministry says that about 437 women and children walked out of the seminary on 4 July, after the troops started a siege of the mosque.

And 28 women left the premises on the morning of 10 July, just before the troops launched their final assault.

Overall, some 1,100 people left the mosque during the week-long siege, the ministry said.

The army says the mother of the two brothers who ran this mosque complex, Maulana Abdul Aziz and Ghazi Abdur Rashid, was the only woman inside the hostel when the endgame began.

She died along with Ghazi Rashid, her younger son and deputy head of the mosque, in a hall in the upper basement of the hostel.

The eastern windows of the hall overlook a narrow, deep ravine and a small group of huts on the far side.

A soldier said the army fired rocket propelled grenades (RPGs) from the huts and from the cover of the trees to punch holes in the outer wall of the hall.

The RPGs did not kill Ghazi Rashid. In fact, they were mostly fired during the preceding week when the troops were constantly pounding the building from three sides to damage its walls.

Ghazi Rashid was killed by Special Forces soldiers who came from the front, from the western side of the mosque and down the basement stairs. It is unclear how his mother died.

RPG and heavy arms fire from the north brought down a large portion of the wall of the seminary and set on fire a large kitchen. Fire is still smouldering in the heap of ashes that were once a stockpile of fuel wood.

'Operation Silence' Concludes in Islamabad

Pakistani Army commandos stormed the radical Lal Masjid (Red Mosque) on Tuesday morning and clashes between the army troops and holed up students continued for two days.Military spokesman Major General Waheed Arshad told a crowded press conference at the surrender point, some 300 meters away from the mosque, that "operation silence" had concluded.Unconfirmed reports indicate than more than 150 people were killed inside the mosque during the commando operation. However military spokesman, Major General Arshad said that it was too early to say how many people got killed during the operation. Previously the military spokesman said that 50 militants had been killed in the operation.

However off-the record the military officials admit that the number of those killed is much higher.The dead body of the deputy cleric of the Lal Masjid Maulana Abdul Rashid Ghazi was recovered from the basement of Jamia Hafsa and was sent to his ancestral village in the Southern Punjab for burial.

However the governments’ move to send his dead body to his ancestral village gave rise to a controversy as Ghazi’s sisters, who live in Islamabad, insisted they he should be buried in Islamabad inside the compound of one seminary owned by the family. Even Supreme Court intervened and stopped the burial till the issue is settled.

The compound was besieged by the Pakistan army troops for a week after armed clashes between the security forces and religious students on July 2 in which around 19 people lost their lives.

The military officials said that they continued to battle the last holed up students till late afternoon today. They say they have also captured more than 70 militants who were either captured or surrendered to the security forces.

The Pakistani troops are still combing the compound of the mosque and adjacent seminary for booby traps and unexploded ordnance. Besides this the troops are also engaged in collecting the dead bodies of militants from the compound.

The area around the mosque compound is still under curfew which was clamped on G-6 sector of Islamabad on July 2 in the evening after clashes between the students and security forces. Though military announced the conclusion of "operation silence" the army troops are still manning the posts they established on the exit and entry points of G-6 sector of Islamabad, which is the oldest in Pakistani capital.

"Operation silence" was the first of its kind in Pakistani history where Pakistani troops engaged in combat with an armed civilian group in one of the major urban centers of the country.

Pakistan army conducted an operation against the tribal militants in Pakistani tribal areas in the north western part of the country. However tribal area is most rural and no city is located in that area.

During the last seven days several government ministers said that there were foreign militants holed up inside the mosque. However even after the conclusion of the operation the government has not come out with any concrete information about the presence of foreign militants inside the mosque.

Military officials told journalists that it would time to identify the dead bodies of the militants and confirm that there were foreign militants inside the mosque.

Military authorities are still preventing the media men from visiting the compound of Lal Masjid and adjacent seminary. Hundreds of foreign and Pakistani media men thronged the surrender point Wednesday, demanding the military authorities to allow them to go to the mosque compound. However the military authorities told them it was still dangerous to visit the place.

"We will take you to the mosque on Thursday morning," one of the military officials present told the journalists. Even if military officials allow access to the journalists on Thursday it will be a controlled access.

Weapons found

To the south, the troops destroyed portions of the boundary wall just below the hostel building and used it as an entry point for their final assault. Fire also broke out in several halls and rooms of both the seminary and the hostel, destroying furniture, clothes and books. The army spokesman says at least 19 bodies found from the premises were charred by fire beyond recognition. The inmates did seem to have made efforts to put out the fire where they could.

One wall of a library in the upper storey of the hostel was black from fire that had also burnt its doors to ashes, but a shelf containing registers, notebooks and some light reading material remained untouched. A similar shelf lined the sidewall of the hall in the hostel where Ghazi Rashid died. Other than this, the only remains from the seminary's recent past are the weapons found in the premises, and bedding and girls' clothing that was spared by fire. In one room, the upper part of a sewing machine lies on empty floor, a relic of a more peaceful past.

Some 81 people have died in a bloody eight-day battle between Pakistani military forces and militants led by extremist clerics at the Red Mosque in Islamabad. But while Pakistani President General Pervez Musharraf's strong-armed actions against the mosque may appear to have temporarily boosted his popularity among moderates ahead of upcoming elections, that boost will not last long, and the likely result will be a backlash that could even lead to an Islamic revolution.

Reprisals have already begun, with two suicide attacks in the country's northwest on 12 July. A suicide car bomber killed three police officers in the remote Swat Valley, near Mingora, while a second killed three more government workers in North Waziristan, near the Afghan border, according to local media reports.

Official reports say that 75 militants were killed in the raid, dubbed Operation Silence, among them Abdul Rashid Ghazi, the brother of the mosque's chief cleric, Maulana Abdul Aziz, who was captured fleeing the scene disguised as a woman, according to the Associated Press.

Though figures differ, most reports say that at least six or seven security force members were killed in the operation, with dozens of others on both sides wounded and 50 militants captured.

On 12 July, Musharraf, in a televised nation-wide address, vowed to "eliminate terrorism and extremism from every nook and corner of the country."

But Aziz made his own pledge, promising that the struggle and the sacrifices would continue and that "God willing, Pakistan will have an Islamic revolution soon. The blood of martyrs will bear fruit."

There are already indications of a backlash with some 3,000 mourners attending Ghazi's funeral in a show of support, and calls from extremist groups operating around to world to avenge the raid. Opposition parties also appear poised to take advantage of the situation ahead of elections.

How many people died in Operation Silence?

The government says 10 soldiers, one policeman and 91 militants were killed in the fighting and the week-long standoff that preceded the final assault. It is known for certain that people died in the military action -- code-named Operation Silence against the mosque; what is not clear is how many.It is known that thousands of girl students aged between four and 20 routinely study the Koran at the Jamia Hafsa madrassa; it is not known how many were inside when, at the end of the prolonged fire-fight between army commandos and heavily armed terrorists, one suicide bomber detonated himself as the army stormed into the compound.

Chief military spokesperson Major General Waheed Arshad told journalists only a few dozen women and children were in the school when the siege began, and that almost all of them had escaped before the final battle. Agencies report that some bodies were charred so badly that it is impossible to determine either sex or age. Officials also pointed out to journalists a head that they claimed belonged to the suicide bomber. Military officials say 75 militants and 11 soldiers were killed in the 35-hour-long firefight; however, there is no word on the number of civilian casualties. 39 of those killed are confirmed as being below the age of 18.

Journalists taken on a tour of the mosque report a tale of total devastation. Flies buzzed over blood-drenched floors; interior walls had in places been broken down to create impromptu bunkers; elsewhere, schoolbooks had been piled into barricades. Bullet holes ridged those walls still standing, and perforated windows and doors. Classrooms and sleeping quarters were alike littered with broken glass and rifle shells; The bare concrete rooms that served as classrooms and sleeping quarters were littered with broken glass and spent rifle cartridges.

Media reports say the devastation was most profound in the basement where rebel cleric Abdul Rashid Ghazi made his last stand. The walls were shattered by explosives; twisted metal furniture lay scattered around the room; and the acrid stench of explosives hung in the air a full 24 hours after the end of the firefight.The Lal Masjid itself was relatively unscathed. Media reports indicate that the entrance hall has been completely destroyed, and the minarets had taken some damage; otherwise, the structure remains intact.

Major General Arshad showed journalists the remains of the terrorists' arsenal: machineguns, rocket-propelled grenade launchers, antitank mines, unexploded suicide vests; a crate of petrol bombs; large quantities of ammunition. Gas masks, scanners and DVDs purportedly propagating the jihadi ideology lay mixed in with the weaponry. Scenes of the weapons seized and the condition of the madrassa were screened on a special program on PTV, the Pakistan government-run television channel late on Thursday night.

Even as President Musharraf, in a televised address to the nation, said the incident called for national mourning, and portrayed it as a do-or-die battle against terrorism, mourners in village Rohjan, in southern Punjab, vented their fury on the government while participating in the funeral of the slain cleric.

Maulana Abdul Aziz Ghazi, the senior cleric at the Masjid who was caught while trying to escape clad in a burqa, and who is being held on 25 counts of murder and terrorism, was granted parole to attend his Brother Abdul Rashid Ghazi's funeral and to lead the prayers; an estimated 2000 people attended.

Mourners picked up the cry for a revolt against the Musharraf government, chanting 'al-jihad' as the body was being interred. Elsewhere, nearly 70 terrorists killed in the military operation were interred in unmarked graves in Islamabad; the individual coffins were identified only by numbers, not names, newspapers reported.

The opposition's next move

The question now is whether the immediate result of the raid on the Lal Masjid mosque, which succeeded in garnering moderates' support for the government, will hold, or whether opposition parties are poised to strike in a rare show of unity, with moderates aligning with religious parties for the purpose of debilitating Musharraf ahead of parliamentary elections later this year and February 2008 presidential elections.

The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN) led by former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, has formed an All Parties Democratic Alliance (APDA), which has vowed to hold rallies on 9 and 14 August in Quetta and Rawalpini to condemn Musharraf's move to raid the mosque, according to local media reports.

Musharraf was already in a tight election spot and in need of new alliances. Alliances with religious parties may have been a possibility before the Lal Masjid incident, but are now unlikely. The moderate parties, led by rival former prime ministers, had already made some moves toward a power-sharing deal – which the raid may have encouraged.

Rumors of secret talks between government representatives and one of these parties, ex-premier Benazir Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party's (PPP), have suggested that a deal could be in the works to give Musharraf another five-year term as president.

Much now depends on whether Musharraf can control the Islamist backlash, and on how the moderate parties, on which he likely depends to maintain power, will react.

Speaking from exile in London on 12 July, Bhutto expressed thinly-veiled support for Musharraf, saying that rising extremism in Pakistan was threatening the very existence of the state, Pakistan's Dawn newspaper reported.

But she also did not rule out joining the new APDM alliance and said her party was opposed to a uniformed president, referring to Musharraf's dual role as army chief of staff and president. However, Bhutto indicated that her party would not join the alliance unless the Mutahiddah Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) religious bloc, which had earlier joined hands with Musharraf, resigned, as it's ideology did not suit the majority moderate parties. The MMA had earlier betrayed the opposition in allying with the pro-Musharraf's Pakistan Muslim League- Quaid-e-Azam (PML-Q) to pass a constitutional change allowing the president to remain as army chief of staff.

Bhutto's statements could shed light on the rumored secret talks between her party and Musharraf, indicating that if the president hopes to maintain her support, on which he now depends, he will have to make some tough compromises, including shedding his military uniform – a long overdue move.

Bhutto revealed that she has conducted a drawn-out dialogue with the military regime but so far there has been no deal, Dawn reported.

While she praised the actions of the military in the mosque raid, she also questioned how the militants had managed to gather at the complex, perhaps suggesting that Pakistani intelligence played a sinister role in the incident.

Indeed, local media reports have suggested that Musharraf's dangerous game of playing both sides in the "war on terror" may have come to a head at the Red Mosque.

An editorial in the Times of India, citing Pakistani sources, claims that former Pakistan president Zia-ul Haq was believed to be close to the former head of the Lal Masjid mosque, and that a number of Pakistani intelligence officials had frequented the complex.

The daily said that some of the militants captured in the raid belonged to Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad, militant groups operating in Kashmir that have in the past been supported by Pakistani intelligence.

If Musharraf is to deal with what will likely be an intense backlash and a string of attacks against government installations in retaliation for the mosque raid, he will need the support of the largest party in the MMA coalition, Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam, led by Maulana Fazlur Rehman. Rehman's support will be difficult to win back in the wake of the mosque raid.

Further complicating issues is Bhutto's insistence on not forming an alliance of any sort with the MMA. Indeed, Rehman condemned what he viewed as Bhutto's support for Musharraf's actions against the mosque/madrassa complex, refusing to attend a conference of the new alliance in protest.

Mosque survivor 'willing to die'

A female survivor of this month's violent storming by Pakistani forces of Islamabad's Red Mosque has spoken of how she wanted to be a suicide bomber. The 18-year-old told the BBC Urdu Service that she was not held hostage by militants but had willingly remained behind during the week-long siege. The woman, who asked not to be named, said she was prepared to carry out a suicide attack to defend the mosque.Soldiers stormed the Red Mosque with its adjacent Islamic school after its clerics and students waged an increasingly aggressive campaign to enforce strict Sharia law in Pakistan's capital.

The survivor said that not only was she inside the mosque of her own will, but she had also been willing to carry out a suicide attack against the government forces outside. She could not go through with her plan, she said, because there were not any explosives for her to use. She added that other women in the mosque were also willing to die. "We wanted to carry out suicide attacks. We didn't have enough ammunition to fight face-to-face... Yes, we had a passion and we were willing to go to all lengths." She said: "Very few girls left because they were afraid - those who left were either minors or they were forced to leave by their parents."

Just one of 30 women to leave the mosque alive, she said her greatest regret was that she had not embraced martyrdom, adding that she was "overcome by grief" when she saw her father again. She said her ambition now was to set up a new radical seminary that would be dedicated to teaching jihad, or holy war, in Pakistan.

Operation Silence Backfires

The suicide blasts, triggered right with the start of Operation Silence against the Red Mosque administration on Wednesday killed 17 soldiers and wounded 13 in an ambush in Miran Shah.

On Tuesday the bombers struck at Islamabad leaving 16 dead while injuring more than 40 people. On Sunday, in a devastating series of suicide attacks in different cities of northwest Pakistan at least 52 people died and more than 100 were injured. Clearly, Operation Silence has backfired, since the extremists have not been silenced.

The majority of the dead were lower-ranking soldiers and police constables or young police candidates who came to try their luck at recruitment centers, hailing from the low-income rural areas where families usually have only one breadwinner.

So, besides killing the soldiers the bombers also tolled the death knell of many families' finances. In these areas of Pakistan , the meager salary of $99 per month is considered more than sufficient to feed a family of four to six members. For this, people strive hard to get a family member a job in the security forces. If some lucky chap succeeds in getting such employment, it is regarded as a windfall that can boost family finances. That's why young men from the poorest families throng police and army recruitment centers whenever they get a chance.

At just such a recruitment center in Dera Ismail Khan, a backwater of Pakistan, 30 policemen and hopefuls were killed and more than 56 received shrapnel wounds or lost limbs instead of getting jobs. There were 200 candidates at the center at the time of the deadly attack. After the explosion, body parts were scattered all over the place.

Since the Pakistani government stormed the Red Mosque in Islamabad using excessive military force against the poorly armed militants holed up in the Lal Masjid, the toll in multiple suicide bombings has jumped to over one hundred and forty.

Furthermore, in an ominous development, the relatives of those killed in the bloody confrontation between Red Mosque militants and security forces have called for a jihad against the government.
According to independent sources, over 400 people were killed -- although the government still insists on 103 dead -- in the bloody confrontation that ended the Red Mosque standoff, many of them women and preteen children from the poorest rural areas who came to the mosque to learn how to read and write because their parents could not afford regular schooling for them. A huge number of relatives are still searching for loved ones who disappeared during Operation Silence.

During the proxy war between the United States and the Soviet Union in Afghanistan in the early 1980s, the U.S. used Pakistan to supply its allies, and the CIA invested billions of dollars in religious seminaries in Pakistan to train faith-oriented fighters to wage war against the 'godless' empire.

The 'evil empire' was defeated through the help of a CIA-funded 'holy war', but this process also irrevocably altered the complexion of Pakistani society, radicalizing a once moderate nation. It created a culture of militancy, Kalashnikovs, drug trafficking, and smuggling. In addition, the flush of money made the mullahs and generals millionaires overnight.

According to noted defense analyst Dr. Ayesha Siddiqa's recent book Military Inc: Inside Pakistan's Military Economy, most Pakistani Army generals have a net worth of between 2.5 and 6.6 million dollars.

Paradoxically, rich clergymen send their children to study abroad at the world's most prestigious academic institutions but deliver sermons encouraging the underprivileged to enroll in seminaries that do not have computers and do not provide the type of education required in the Information Age.

As a matter of fact, many of these seminaries' preachers indoctrinate young male and female students, telling them that they are the custodians of Islam who must implement their own version of sharia upon the people by force.

For example, on Sunday BBC telecast film clips of a 14-year-old Pakistani boy who had traveled to Afghanistan from a religious seminary in the northwest of Pakistan to assassinate the governor of Khost Province. The youth, who was shown standing next to Afghan President Hamid Karzai after being pardoned, had been caught wearing a suicide vest on a motorbike in Khost. The boy's father said that he had sent his son to the seminary to learn how to read and write and was appalled that his son's radical teachers trained him to be a suicide bomber.

Unfortunately, in the surge of violence instigated by both sides, the sons and daughters of the poorest of the poor have had to pay with their lives.

Pakistan's long-deprived multitudes are bearing the brunt of the so-called war on terrorism. But on Sunday, George W. Bush's national security advisor, Stephen Hadley, told Pervez Musharraf to crush the militants and offered logistical and moral support.

Yet, at this point in time, when most countries are withdrawing support for the excesses of the war on terror, Pakistan should also start distancing itself from the failed policies of the United States.

Washington re-examining its friends?

In the meantime, Washington is growing increasingly skeptical of its strategic alliance with Musharraf-led Pakistan in the "war on terror." According to a 12 July Voice of America report, a new threat assessment by the National Counterterrorism Center says al-Qaeda is stronger than it has been in years, largely due to the safe havens it is said to enjoy in tribal areas in northern and western Pakistan.

Last year, Musharraf cut a deal with tribal leaders to stand down the military in their areas. In return, the tribal leaders agreed to prevent Taliban and al-Qaeda forces from using the area as a safe haven and training ground, and from launching cross-border attacks into Afghanistan. US officials were skeptical from the start, saying the deal would only allow militants to regroup for future attacks.

While Washington praised Musharraf for the Red Mosque raid and the subsequent arrests, there is clearly a great deal of concern about the burgeoning Islamist backlash. The general has already survived a number of assassination attempts, which have led him to believe in his own invincibility. Musharraf survived two attempts on his life in December 2003, one of which left 16 civilians dead. The latest attempt on his life was on 6 July this year, when the general's plane, taking off from Rawalpindi, can under attack by submachine fire from an unknown assailant. This attack is believed to be linked to the Red Mosque raid.

The New York Times in a 10 July editorial called on Washington to quit its alliance with Musharraf, referring to him as a "blundering and increasingly unpopular military dictator and a halfhearted strategic ally of the United States."

"General Musharraf may hold on to power a while longer, or he may not. But it is past time for the Bush administration to stop making excuses for the general. Washington needs to make clear to the Pakistani people that America is the ally of their country, not their dictator, and that the United States favors the earliest possible return to free elections and civilian rule," the editorial read.

Musharraf can be expected to take one of a number of possible measures in the very near future, but a backlash will ensue regardless, and many of these expected measures may serve to encourage further radicalization.

The general is likely to launch a number of similar attacks, targeting the troubled North-West Frontier Province and the tribal areas. It is also possible that he will declare a state of emergency, which would delay parliamentary and presidential elections and give him more time to deal with Bhutto and Rehman – time which he desperately needs.

More attacks and a declaration of a state of emergency will undoubtedly intensify revenge attacks and lead to a critical situation. At the same time, delayed elections will lead to severe unrest among even moderate elements of the public. Combined, we are talking about a failed state.

A major complication is Bhutto herself. While getting rid of Musharraf might seem an easy end to a troublesome US ally, there is every indication that Bhutto, if in power, would proceed with greater intensity in the battle to control Islamic extremism and launch the state into an even more profound and bloody crisis. As such, free and fair elections and a return to democracy are not the cure all.

Only a long-term plan to free the tribal regions and the restive border areas from the grip of poverty and disenfranchisement - which makes them beholden to militant forces – can ever solve the crisis. And Musharraf, despite his tendency to play both sides of the field to everyone's detriment, is the only one in a position to do this at the moment. In the meantime, the US may have no choice but to intervene before the crisis reaches a point of no return.