July 05, 2007	Thursday	Jamadi-us-Sani 19, 1428

ISLAMABAD, July 4: Javed Khan, who has come to Islamabad from Mardan to take his sister — a student of Jamia Hafsa — was virtually weeping in front of the Lal Masjid after the seminary’s administration refused to let him meet his sister.

“I am here for the last three days, but I have not been able to meet my 15-year-old sister who had informed my family on telephone that the Jamia Hafsa administration was forcing her to fight the security forces,” Mr Khan said in a choked voice.

“Her mobile phone has been seized by the administration and now I do not know about her whereabouts.

I plead to the Jamia Hafsa management that my mother’s health is not good and I have to take my sister along with me so that she can meet her,” he maintained.

Mr Khan was standing in a line of many people whose children had been forcefully detained in the seminary.

Though hundreds of Jamia Hafsa students have surrendered after the government’s threat of launching a fullscale operation against Lal Masjid, a number of students still remain inside as they have not been given permission to leave the seminary.

The female students who belong to the far-flung areas of the NWFP are not able to travel to their respective localities on their own.

“I fear that if my sister escapes from the seminary, she would be lost which is why I am worried about her,” Mr Khan said.