ISLAMABAD, April 21: PML President Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain on Saturday ruled out any operation against the clerics and stick-wielding militants of Lal Masjid and Jamia Hafsa, claiming that they appeared to have climbed down.
"There will be no operation," the ruling party chief told Dawn after a meeting with President Pervez Musharraf on Saturday. He said the president had asked him to negotiate a peaceful settlement with the Lal Masjid clerics.
The PML leader claimed that most of the issues underlying the three-month-old standoff between the religious militants and the government had been resolved. Only the issue of rebuilding the demolished mosques remained to be resolved, he said.
Chaudhry Shujaat said that the Lal Masjid clerics had assured him that they wanted to settle the issue peacefully and without creating problems for others.He said some "vested interests" wanted the government to use force to tackle the Lal Masjid issue so that law and order situation could be created for the government.
"But this will not happen. The president agrees with me that differences (with the religious miltants) should be settled peacefully."
Sources close to the presidency said that the government could not oblige those elements who wanted a showdown with clerics and militants and were interested in a "live show of shootout being telecast by private television channels.”
These sources said that the PML chief had the blessing of the president for negotiating a settlement, but he (Chaudhry Shujaat) had been told by the president not to yield to religious militants’ on their 10-point demand list.
In response to clerics’ 10-point demand list, the government has asked the clerics to meet the government’s four conditions: The girls of Jamia Hafsa must drop illegal occupation of children's library; Lal Masjid clerics should disband their moral squads and armed vigilantes must not roam about the streets of the capital; the so-called Shariat Court should be disbanded; and only legitimate students should be allowed into the mosque compound.
According to informed sources, the number of male students inside the Lal Masjid, which was about 2,500 militants at the height of the crisis, had come down to around 500.
Similarly, about 3,500 girl students of Jamia Hafsa had left the seminary after the crisis, but around 1,500 students were still inside the Lal Masjid complex.
An additional 2,000 male students were on-call at the Jamia Fareedia, also attached to the Lal Masjid, but it was situated in Islamabad's posh E-10 Sector, about four kilometres from "the battle ground".
In case of a showdown, the Lal Masjid militants could count on reinforcements from 18 other Deobandi madressahs situated in the city.
DEAL WITH PPP: Referring to talks of a deal between the government and the PPP, Chaudhry Shujaat said that President Pervez Musharraf had assured him that no deal was being struck with Ms Bhutto and her party.
"I am telling you that no deal could be struck with Ms Bhutto unless she accepts the president in his uniform. I'm pretty sure about that after meeting President Sahib," the PML leader said.
He said that the demands of Ms Bhutto were increasing with the passage of time and these demands could not be met as the government would not oblige her on every issue.
"Ms Bhutto is seeking the removal of all cases against her and this is not possible," the PML chief said.
