April 23, 2007	Monday	Rabi-us-Sani 05, 1428

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KARACHI, April 22: An investigative report on Lal Masjid, Jamia Hafsa and Jamia Faridia, released by the Muttahida Qaumi Movement here on Sunday, claims that about 4,000-5,000 men and an equal number of women have been indoctrinated and trained there to carry out suicide attacks.

“They are trained for suicide attacks and brainwashed into believing that the world is a temporary abode and heaven the eternal abode and, therefore, by forsaking the satanic acts, they shall redeem their own sins and those of their seven generations,” said the report released by the party’s Coordination Committee.

According to the report, Lal Masjid was constructed some years ago for people of the area to offer prayers. It was built on a plot of land belonging to the Capital Development Authority, with CDA’s permission, and it was not associated with any particular Fiqah or group. A few years ago, the mosque was “illegally occupied” by two cleric brothers, Maulana Abdul Aziz and Maulana Abdul Rashid Ghazi, who were government employees dismissed on charges relating to the possession of unlicensed arms and involvement in illegal activities.

On Jamia Hafsa and Jamia Faridia, the report said that after the Afghan war General Ziaul Haq allotted one kanal of the CDA land to late Maulana Abdullah to impart religious education. Jamia Hafsa was eventually converted into a settlement with additional CDA land illegally occupied by Maulana Aziz and Maulana Ghazi. It said that with the illegal occupation of land, the area of the madressah had increased from 500 square yards to 6,500 square yards (13 kanals) with an estimated value of Rs150 million.

Similarly, the area of Jamia Faridia was expanded illegally from 500 square yards to 11,000 square yards (22 kanal). Maulana Aziz and Maulana Ghazi, the report said, did not only illegally encroach on the CDA land but also built four-storey buildings there.

The CDA issued 19 notices to Jamia Hafsa and Jamia Faridia, but the cleric brothers, who established a state within the state, threatened an armed action if any effort was made by the government to end their illegal occupation of the land.

The report said that students of Jamia Hafsa had been ordered that if they saw a woman or a female student without a burqa they must beat her up with sticks and force her in a confession cell at Jamia Hafsa to seek forgiveness. Regarding male students of Jamia Faridia, the report said they openly roamed around Islamabad, damaged vehicles driven by women and beat them up, claiming that in Islam it was forbidden for a woman to drive a car. They also beat up women wearing jeans and warned that if they were seen again in jeans there legs would be chopped off.

These students, the report added, told the people kidnapped by them that at present they (madressah students) numbered only 7,000, but when their force increased to 70,000 they would dismiss President Pervez Musharraf, seize power in the country and impose Sharia. The members of an MQM investigation committee, the report claimed, covertly visited Jamia Hafsa where they saw narrow streets and alleyways and women and children living within its parameters. Ten to 15 women share a room. Toilet facilities are inadequate, but each room has a refrigerator and besides food, soft drinks like Pepsi and Coca-Cola are also available.

Most of the women living there, the report said, were from Kashmir, either kidnapped or left behind by their parents who believed they would be leading their lives in accordance with the principles of Islam, with free board. These women are indoctrinated and trained in the madressah to carry out suicide attacks.

The report alleged that there were stockpiles of modern weapons, including Kalashnikov and rockets-launchers, in Jamia Hafsa and Jamia Faridia. According to the report, strange people (not permanently living there) frequently visit the madressahs.