July 06, 2007	Friday	Jamadi-us-Sani 20, 1428

ISLAMABAD, July 5: The captured leader of Lal Masjid on Thursday urged his followers to surrender. Abdul Aziz, who was seized on Wednesday trying to flee the complex in a woman’s burqa, said in a bizarre television interview that about 1,000 male and female students remained in the building.

“After coming out I saw the siege was massive and came to the conclusion that we should give up,” he told state television. “The government has massive resources and I realised that people will not be able to stay inside for long.”

Maulana Aziz appeared in a black burqa under which his grey beard was partly visible. The interviewer asked him to take off the veil, which he then lifted to show his face.

“I have told them not to sacrifice their lives for me,” he said. He denied that students were being kept against their will.

Maulana Aziz said that there were around 250 male and 600 female students still in the mosque compound. “At least 13 to 14 Kalashnikovs and 250 (male) students are in (the) mosque,” he told the television.

“I wanted to leave.”

“Some of our women teachers were of the opinion that some female students should be kept at the mosque. They were politely counselling them to stay as this is the time as a sacrifice,” he said.

“They are not used as human shields. We only gave them passion for jihad (holy war).”

The cleric, who once met al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, said his movement had no links with “our foreign friends”.

Maulana Aziz said his mosque has “a relationship of love and affection with all jihadi organisations” but no actual links with them.

“We have no militants, we only had students. If somebody came from outside, I have no information on that,” he said, denying responsibility for calls on Tuesday over the mosque’s loudspeakers for suicide attacks.

However, he said that as the confrontation with the authorities in Islamabad deepened, some militant groups had provided arms.--Agencies