February 01, 2007	Thursday	Muharram 12, 1428

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ISLAMABAD, Jan 31: The intervention of Wafaqul Madaris has given a new hope to the local administration to solve the ongoing ulema-government stand-off on the issue of demolition of mosques in the federal capital, a senior official of the district administration told Dawn on Wednesday.

The official said a delegation of Wafaqul Madaris, a supervisory body of all seminaries, headed by Qari Saeed called on Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao, Minister for Religious Affairs Ijazul Haq and Chief Commissioner Khalid Pervez and assured them that the occupation of public library by the girl students of Madressah Hafsa would end soon.

The delegation agreed that the occupation of public places was not a lawful way to get demands fulfilled. The intervention of Wafaqul Madaris is the last ditch effort to solve the issue peacefully.

The interior ministry has put on hold an expected crackdown on the management of Lal Masjid and the adjacent Madressah Hafsa in view of the holy month of Muharram. The source said that the ministry feared that an action against the mosque management during Muharram could seriously disturb peace in the capital.

The delegation was informed that the Capital Development Authority had launched a drive against the illegal structures built on state land and notices had also been served on the violators in this regard.

The delegation was further told that the CDA action was not meant to target any particular segment of the society but the illegal structures which included both residential and commercial buildings and some mosques.

A sizable piece of state land has been encroached in the construction of Lal Masjid and Madressah Hafsa. Record shows that a plot measuring 25 x 50 feet was allocated to the mosque management. However, the management of the mosque grabbed additional state land without any permission.

On the other hand, the management of Madressah Hafsa said that about 7,000 girl students were ready to lay down their lives if police launched a crackdown to vacate the library.