The Grand Mufti of Pakistan, Rafi Usmani has referred to Tuesday's killing of the radical mosque leader, Abdul Rasheed Ghazi, as a sad moment.In an interview with Pakistani television channel, the Mufti, who was part of the negotiating team that was trying to bring about a peaceful end to the crisis between the government and Islamabad's Lal Masjid (Red Mosque), said that those who fought for Allah are martyrs while those who died as part of their their jobs because their commanders had asked them to do so, are not.
The Pakistan army has said that at least 50 militants have been killed in the operation and eight soldiers. The military stormed the mosque compound early Tuesday morning after 11 hours of talks between Ghazi and the government failed.
The Grand Mufti told Adnkronos International (AKI) that the talks failed after the draft accord reached by the two sides had been rejected by Pakistan's president General Pervez Musharraf.
Pakistan's interior ministry officials confirmed that Ghazi had been killed and that his body was found at the basement of the mosque.
The interior ministry spokesperson said that he was initially injured and was asked to lay down his weapon but as he refused and tried to resist, he was killed.
Meanwhile many parts of Pakistan including the tribal areas of Swat, Maland and Bajaur, which lie along the border with Afghanistan, have been rattled with attacks on Pakistani security officials. There have been no reports of casualties so far.
Reports also said that armed supporters of the militants in the Lal Masjid had blocked the Himalayan Karakorum Highway linking to China in Pakistan's North-West Frontier Province. They had reportedly taken positions on the mountains along the Silk Route near Batagram.
In recent days, the army has redeployed thousands of troops in northwestern Pakistan where pro-Taliban militants opposed to Musharraf have been carrying out a string of attacks said to be linked to the mosque siege.
In his final telephone interview on Pakistan television channels before he was killed, Ghazi said that the Pakistani government had not told the truth about those in the mosque and the amount of weaponry that they had with them.
"The government talked to us not to resolve anything but to break us. The government did a lot of propaganda about our weaponry. I want to tell that we have just 14 AK-47 guns and most of them are licensed," Ghazi said in the interview.
The Pakistani authorities had said that there were hardcore militants inside the mosque and that they were well-armed with rocket launches and grenades and that they had been using women and children as human shields.
"I know I would be killed so I want to clarify that the government had given information against us,” Ghazi said in his last recorded interview telecast on local Pakistani channels.
“There were religious political clerics who approached me but only to terrify me with the government's wrath," he said. "God would ask them on the Day of Judgment on their role," he said.
"I want to thank the press with whom I have spent a good time and they always presented my point of view,” Ghazi said.
In other interviews before he died, Ghazi reportedly said that if he was killed, there would be a strong reaction against the Musharraf government.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Disclaimer
No responsibility or liability shall attach itself to either myself or to the blogspot ‘Clerical Whispers’ for any or all of the articles placed here.
The placing of an article hereupon does not necessarily imply that I agree or accept the contents of the article as being necessarily factual in theology, dogma or otherwise.
Sotto Voce