Muslim cleric threatens suicide attacks
by Sheraz Khurram Khan
April 13, 2007
ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN (ANS) -- A hard-line Muslim cleric has threatened to unleash a wave of suicide attacks if the Pakistan government tries to counter his bid of enforcing Islamic laws in the federal capital through vigilante Islamic courts that he announced he would set up. Maulana Abdul Aziz made the threat while addressing the Friday congregation in the Lal Masjid (red mosque) located near the city centre of Islamabad.
"The government has been saying that an operation against us is the last option, I want to tell the government that suicide attacks are our last option," the Reuters News Agency quoted him as saying.
Maulana Aziz, the chief cleric of the Lal Masjid, flexing his "religious muscles" in a Taliban-like fashion, set a one-month deadline for the government to ensure closure of music shops and bordellos.
Last month, the cleric's quest for eroding "immorality" resulted in imprisonment of three women accused of being prostitutes in Jamia Hafsa, a radical religious school that is being run under his patronage.
Aziz reportedly said the religious school students will take action themselves to stamp out vice from the capital if the government failed to do so.
"Our youths will shake their palaces with their suicide attacks," the Reuters News Agency quoted him as telling Friday congregation at the mosque.
"They should not take the law into their own hands; this will create lawlessness in the country. We will not allow them, I will not allow this," the Reuters News Agency quoted Pakistan President General Pervez Musharraf as telling a convention on Friday.
Pakistan's leading Human Rights Activist, Asma Jehangir, reportedly said a rally would take place in the eastern city of Lahore on April 19 to condemn the cleric's moves.
© 2007 ASSIST News Service, used with permission.
