July 04, 2007	Wednesday	Jamadi-us-Sani 18, 1428

ISLAMABAD, July 3: It was the most terrible day for Mohammad Aslam who has been living just across the Lal Masjid since 1964. He had to shift his family to a safer place in Sector I-10 amid heavy shelling of tear gas and crossfire between the security forces and the Lal Masjid brigade on Tuesday afternoon.

Locked from outside, he is alone in a government quarter where he lived peacefully for years. “There have been incidents of tear gas shelling on two occasions in the past,” recalls Mr Aslam, “but this is for the first time that we have heard heavy firing like this.”

This was not an ordinary day. The area has been the centre of protests for a long on variety of issues but this time the two sides are heavily armed, issuing warnings against each other and giving an impression of a real battlefield.

And the real victims were the residents who had seen the gradual build-up in tension and emotions fuelled with religious sentiments.

“My young kids are in a bad condition psychologically and I cannot afford to keep them here,” Mr Aslam said who is not the only one in a state of shock in the area. The entire population in this small but oldest locality is terrified.

A visit of the area reveals that majority of the houses are locked from outside. The residents have either taken shelter with friends and relatives away from the area or have switched off their lights to camouflage their presence.

According to Mr Aslam, 47, it was during the Pakistan National Alliance (PNA) movement against the Qadianis when a huge procession led by Maulana Abdullah — father of the two Lal Masjid clerics — was dispersed through tear gas. “But even then there was no incident of firing,” he said, adding that during the first tenure of Benazir Bhutto, the residents of Sector G-6 had to face difficulties due to heavy shelling but without a fire.

“My neighbours who are staying back despite initial exchange of fire (between the security forces and the Lal Masjid brigade) left their houses when vehicles and offices of the environment ministry were put on fire and tear gas filled their residences,” he told Dawn when contacted on his cellphone. For the last four months, Mr Aslam has given up going to Lal Masjid for performing prayers and has switched to the nearby Masjid-i- Shuhada.

The district administration had advised the residents in the close vicinity of Lal Masjid a on Monday evening to move out.

Even public offices like the Islamabad Electric Supply Corporation (Iesco), National Police Bureau, Estate Office and Environment Ministry were vacated by the police and security agencies.

Soon after the crossfire on Tuesday, traders at Aabpara and Melody markets, near the Lal Masjid, had started to close down their businesses. Those who stayed back were advised by the district administration to shutdown their shops. The markets were thus giving a deserted look by afternoon and even the hotels and medical stores were closed.

Many people came out of their residences to see by themselves the real situation. They chanted slogans against security agencies for allegedly fuelling the fire and criticised the capital administration for not taking them into confidence in advance.

“Both the administration and the Lal Masjid people have put our lives in danger,” said Shamraiz, another resident. Finally the majority decided to move out of the area for personal safety.

A worker at the Holiday Inn Hotel told this scribe on condition of anonymity that they have shifted their foreign guests to safer places and have deputed a large number of private security outside the hotel to ensure safety of the remaining guests. The bustling Melody food market is no more offering any services and is completely deserted. Police have been deployed at all sides of the markets to protect private properties.

No body knows when the traffic would be normal in the area. One can only hope that sanity prevails and the oldest markets of Islamabad return to normal sooner the better.