June 04, 2007	Monday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 18, 1428

ISLAMABAD, June 3: In another daring attempt to challenge the writ of the government in the centre of the capital, some stick-wielding students of Lal Masjid on Sunday threatened a wedding party with dire consequences for fireworks display at the government-run Abpara Community Centre located a few yards away from the mosque.

The threat caused panic not only in the wedding ceremony but also in surrounding areas and the busy Abpara market.

“Yes, these were our students who went to the community centre to ask its management to stop fireworks,” Lal Masjid deputy in-charge Maulana Abdul Rashid Ghazi said.

He said the mosque administration had time and again asked the management of the community centre not to allow fireworks in the centre during wedding ceremonies and other functions because it disturbed students of Lal Masjid during their study and sleep.“But despite repeated requests, the centre’s management paid no heed to it and today our students went to the centre and asked the management to stop such practice,” Maulana Ghazi said.

According to eyewitnesses, some two dozen students, some of them covering their faces, had barged in the community centre at night and threatened its management with dire consequences. The participants of the wedding function got scared and stopped fireworks.

When contacted, Islamabad Deputy Commissioner Chaudhry Mohammad Ali said that a timely action of the administration and police had forced the students to retreat. He said that a heavy contingent of police was sent to the centre which compelled the students to stop their mission. However, no arrest was made on the occasion.

POLICE DEPLOYED AT PIMS: Police were deployed at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) after students of Lal Masjid distributed pamphlets and threatened doctors and nurses in the hospital, sources told Dawn here on Sunday.

The sources said a group of veiled women of Jamia Hafsa along with their fellow male students arrived in the hospital and distributed pamphlets to nurses and doctors and threatened them that the Lal Masjid brigade could raid the hospital again. The students asked them to attend a meeting at the seminary on the issue of desecration of Quranic verses at the School of Nursing.

The sources said the group remained in the hospital for half an hour and left the building before the administration and security could take action.

Later, personnel of Margalla police were deployed at the hospital. Some policewomen along with their male members were also deployed at the School of Nursing. The Pims administration lodged a complaint with the Margalla police after Lal Masjid students came to the hospital on Friday.

When contacted, Margalla police told Dawn that the deployment of police at the hospital was a routine matter and there was no threat from students of Lal Masjid.