April 27, 2007	Friday	Rabi-us-Sani 09, 1428

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ISLAMABAD, April 26: A 30-day deadline given by the Lal Masjid administration to the owners of CD shops for winding up their business ends on Friday (today) and it is feared that the militants may resort to any action.

“We are feeling insecure and require the government’s protection,” a shopkeeper in Abpara Market told Dawn.

“We do not know that what will happen to us after the end of the deadline.”

The shopkeeper said a large group comprising 40-50 baton-wielding people, some of them with covered faces, had visited the market asking sellers of CDs, audio and video cassettes to switch over to some other business.

He said he was in the business of selling cassettes for 30 years and had no expertise to start some other business. “They can only preach if they think an un-Islamic act is being done and cannot impose their ideals by force.”

Another CD seller said a group of baton-wielding men had said they were ready to discuss the provision of money to shopkeepers to enable them to switch over to an alternative trade.

Maulana Abdul Rashid Ghazi, the deputy head of Lal Masjid and Jamia Hafsa, indicated the deadline could be extended by two or three days.

In reply to a question about the fear of the owners of CD shops that the students of Jamia Hafsa would take action against them, Maulana Ghazi said: “First we will see whether the government is serious in enforcement of sharia or not. A future line of action will be chalked out later.”

He said the `message has been conveyed to the CD shop owners and some of them have already said goodbye to their business’.

In reply to a question about the recent meeting between Pakistan Muslim League (PML) President Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and Lal Masjid clerics, he said the PML chief had given an assurance that all demands of the mosque’s administration would be met. “But we have so far not received any such written commitment from the ruling party head.”

A senior official of the local administration said strict action would be taken if anyone was found trying to close CD shops By force. “It is our duty to provide protection to the people.”

Late last month, some students of the Jamia Hafsa visited markets in the capital and served written notices on the owners of CD shops threatening that force could be used against them if they fail to comply with the warning.

However, Maulana Ghazi claimed that those who distributed the notices were not Jamia students.

A letter distributed among the CD and cassette sellers in Aabpara market, super market and Jinnah Super Market in Islamabad, advised shopkeepers to quit `this un-Islamic business’.

The notice said: “You must remember the doomsday when everybody would be worried for himself and all the relatives will desert you. How will you face the court of Almighty Allah?” the ultimatum said.

“By the grace of Allah Almighty, we have the power to stop this un-Islamic activity by force.”