Masjid Merah

33°42′46.12″N 73°05′13.33″E

Lal Masjid (Urdu: لال مسجد; ditranslasikan sebagai: Red Mosque dalam bahasa Inggris atau Masjid Merah dalam bahasa Indonesia) adalah sebuah masjid yang terletak di Islamabad, ibukota negara Pakistan. Sekolah keagamaan untuk wanita (Jamia Hafsa madrasah) dan laki-laki (madrasah), juga terdapat di masjid ini.

Pembangunan dan kepemilikan

Lal Masjid dibangun pada tahun 1965 dan dinamai "Masjid Merah" karena dinding dan interior-nya berwarna merah. Selama keberadaannya, masjid ini dilindungi oleh anggota pemerintahan yang berpengaruh, perdana menteri, kepala tentara, dan presiden.

Pemimpin diktator militer Pakistan yang masa jabatannya paling lama, Jenderal Zia-ul-Haq, mempunyai hubungan yang sangat erat dengan Maulana Abdullah, mantan pemimpin masjid yang mempunyai sejarah panjang sebagai pendukung sektarianisme. Selama perang Soviet-Afganistan (1979-1989), Masjid Merah memegang peran penting dalam merekrut dan melatih orang yang bersedia untuk jihad dalam melawan orang-orang Afghanistan mujahidin.

Setelah Abdullah terbunuh pada tahun 1998, anaknya, Abdul Aaziz Ghazi dan Abdul Rashid Ghazi mengambil alih masjid, menjadikannya sebagai pusat pelatihan garis keras Sunni Deobandi dan secara terbuka menjadi oposisi pemerintah.

Konfrontasi dengan pemerintah

Menyusul serangan 11 September 2001 di Amerika Serikat, pemerintah Pakistan mengumumkan bahwa pemerintah akan mendukung "War on Terror" Amerika Serikat. Hal ini ditentang keras oleh pemimpin Masjid Merah, yang pro terhadap Taliban. Pada bulan Juli 2005, otoritas Pakistan mencoba untuk menyerang masjid terkait dengan investigasi Bom London 2005, tapi akhirnya polisi mundur.

Selama tahun 2006 dan paruh pertama 2007, pelajar dan pemimpin masjid ditantang otoritas pemerintah, the mosque's students and leadership challenged the authority of the government in the capital by setting up a Sharia Law in the premises. Meanwhile the students of Jamia Hafsa took control of Government Children Library in protest against demolishing of Mosques in Islamabad by Government, Government claimed they were illegal, despite the fact that two of them were hundred years old mosque and were legal. Government made list of 80 more mosque to demolish, which escalated the tension between Lal Masjid (Red Mosque) authorities and Government.

After setting up Sharia Law in the premises of Lal Masjid, people start coming to Lal Masjid authorities to solve their problem because of lack of justice in the government courts and corrupt and expired Judicially system. Residents of G6 complaint against Brothel in the area. Lal Masjid authorities contacted Islamabad Police to take action againt Brothel, sources said that Islamabad Police refused to take action against Brothel run by Aunti Shamim, justifying that Aunti Shamim has links to Federal Ministers and Generals, who order her release when ever we arrest her. To run a Brothel is violation of Law in Pakistan.

Fed up of not taking action against Brothel by Islamabad Police, Lal Masjid female students kidnapped Aunti Shamim and took her to Lal Masjid Complex. After agreement of closing Brotherl, Lal Masjid authorities released Aunti Shamim.

A seemingly soft approach taken by the Pakistani government in dealings with the mosque has led to accusations of leniency on the part of President Pervez Musharraf.

Siege

Artikel utama: Lal Masjid siege

On July 3, 2007, the stand-off between militants barricaded inside the mosque and the government resulted in bloody gun battles in which over twenty people, including students of the mosque, media persons, paramilitary personnel, and a businessman, were reportedly killed and over a hundred others were injured. An FIR was later registered against Ghazi brothers with charges ranging from kidnapping and murder to treason, and terrorism.

To avoid collateral loss, on July 4, 2007 the government offered amnesty to juvenile students if they surrendered. Over 1000 of the radical followers surrendered. Abdul Aaziz Ghazi tried to take advantage of the situation by attempting to slip through a tightening siege while wearing a burqa. His unusually tall physique and large belly alerted a policewoman as she searched fleeing students in central Islamabad. Moreover, he refused to pass through the metal detectors that all surrendering students were supposed to pass through. The group of girls surrounding him claimed that their "auntie" was sick and should not be harassed by the policewomen. This increased the policewomen's suspicions and they went through his purse, which was stuffed with lipsticks, a woman's ID card, and a pistol. He was, consequently, arrested by law enforcement agencies. A reward was announced for the rangers who captured Abdul Aziz.

Government and Security officials had continuously asked Maulana Abdul Rashid Ghazi to surrender but after last ditch efforts to secure the release of "hostages" and bring the matter to a peaceful conclusion failed, "Operation Silence" commenced. 164 Elite Commandoes of Pakistan Army Special Services group stormed the Mosque/Madrassah complex from three sides. Police and Paramilitary forces secured the outer parameter of the complex. The gate and walls of Mosque were breached. Operation was affected during the night because of heavy storms and rain.

Mosque stormed

On July 8, 2007, most of the private television channels like GEO, AAJ etc. were convinced from the security forces movement that they are going to attack. The opposition made them report against the government as much as possible. At dawn on Tuesday, 10 July, after attempts at negotiation failed, government troops stormed the mosque, and took control of most of the complex during heavy fighting which raged as they went from room to room throughout the day. The Army hoped to finish the intervention as soon as possible. Although the operation had started, the militants could still negotiate with the Pakistani authorities. According to ISPR (inter services public relations) spokesman Maj General Waheed Arshad the militants were heavily armed and put up fierce resistance. At that point, an estimated 70 militants had either been captured or surrendered, with 75 militants and 8 soldiers killed; 50 women and children had been rescued including the wife of captured mosque leader Maulana Abdul Aziz. Troops cleared the ground floor of the mosque, but heavily armed militants had retreated into the basement using women and children as human shields, and the standoff continued. Military sources stated that the operation to gain control of the mosque was in its final stages and would continue throughout Tuesday night.

The actual casualty figure still cannot be independently verified. According to some reports, Abdul Sattar Edhi was asked by the government to arrange for as much as four hundred burial shrouds. According to the latest government accounts, no hostages were found inside the mosque premises contradicting its own intelligence reports that women and children were being held against their will. Also, there are numerous accounts of witnesses seeing the mosque compound littered with hundreds of bodies. The media personnel were invited to witness the burials of large number of deceased from the Red Mosque. According to them, many coffins contained multiple severed limbs and it was hard to judge if only one victim was being buried in each coffin.

Brigadier Javed Iqbal Cheema, of the Interior Ministry, said the body of Abdul Rashid Ghazi had been found in the basement of the women's school after what was described as intense fighting. Reports said the cleric had been shot twice and failed to respond when called upon to surrender. At that point, commandos fired a final volley of shots at him. Other reports stated that militants refused to allow Mr Ghazi to surrender and that he was killed in crossfire. There is fear that Musharaf regime is hiding the total number of people killed.Urdu service of BBC says that number of killed people may be 173.[12]

Aftermath

Following the week long siege, the bodies of the deceased militants have been buried in temporary graves, awaiting collection from family members. Hundreds of Abdul Rashid Ghazi's supporters attended his funeral in his Punjabi village, and calls for Holy War were made. Although many Pakistanis are in favor of the suppression of radicalism, authorities fear a violent backlash from the more fundamental section of the population. The police and military were placed on high alert, as the country entered three days of mourning. Ayman al-Zawahiri, Al-Qaeda's second in command, released a message which included the sentence: "Your salvation is only through jihad", thus heightening tensions in the region.

Speaking at a televised address to the nation President Pervez Musharraf said he was determined that extremism and terrorism would be eradicated in Pakistan. "Unfortunately we have been up against our own people... they had strayed from the right path and become susceptible to terrorism."

"What do we as a nation want?" President Musharraf asked. "What kind of Islam do these people represent?"

"In the garb of Islamic teaching they have been training for terrorism... they prepared the madrassa as a fortress for war and housed other terrorists in there.

"I will not allow any madrassa to be used for extremism."

Musharraf went on to say that those members of the military who died had given their blood for the country.

Objections to the operation

Government opposition parties have accused the government of diverting attention from an on-going judicial crisis in Supreme Court of Pakistan, the Pakistan All-Parties Conference being held in London, and heavy losses due to floods in the country. However, the more troubling point of concern is the attempt to hide the exact number of civilian casualties by the government and fears that close to five hundred or more people including many women and children might have died instead of the official toll of 90 (approximation). The media of Pakistan was not allowed access during and immediately after the operation leaving many in doubt of the credibility of the reports coming out of the official channels.

Pranala luar

• Profile: Islamabad's Red Mosque