Lal Masjid, a State within a State: Clerics Had a Core of Banned Militant Organisations Including Al Qaeda and Jaish-i-Mohammad around Them

By Pervez Hoodbhoy

February 22, 2020

MAULANA Abdul Aziz of Lal Masjid fame is back on the scene. He is threatening a second round unless his demands are met. Negotiations are currently in process to placate him. One wonders if old memories have gotten lost. Or, instead, are they still so fresh that the authorities dare not refuse Aziz’s demands.

Surely it’s time to recall how appeasing terrorism culminated in the horrific disaster of 2007. That’s when Islamabad became a battlefield above which thick smoke filled the sky for days.

Led by Abdul Aziz and his brother Abdur Rashid Ghazi (later killed), Lal Masjid clerics had set out to create their version of an Islamic state in the city. On April 12, 2007, in an FM broadcast from an illegal transmitter on the mosque’s premises, they issued a chilling threat to the government: “There will be suicide blasts in every nook and cranny of the country. We have weapons, grenades and we are expert in manufacturing bombs. We are not afraid of death.” This was four months before the final showdown on July 4, 2007. Read More https://newageislam.com/radical-islamism-and-jihad/pervez-hoodbhoy/lal-masjid,-a-state-within-a-state--clerics-had-a-core-of-banned-militant-organisations-including-al-qaeda-and-jaish-i-mohammad-around-them/d/121126