July 18, 2007	Wednesday	Rajab 02, 1428

ISLAMABAD, July 17: Repair and renovation of the Lal Masjid will take longer than the coming Friday to reopen its doors for prayers, an official said here on Tuesday. “We cannot open the mosque by the coming Friday as its renovation work requires more time,” Interior Ministry spokesman Brig (retired) Javed Iqbal Cheema told his weekly press briefing.

His statement followed calls from religious groups and the Jamaat-i-Islami chief Qazi Hussain Ahmed for opening the mosque for prayers coming Friday.

Mr Cheema said the government had sought technical assistance of National Engineering Services of Pakistan (Nespak) for reinforcing the structures of the mosque damaged during the recent violence.

Meanwhile, Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao said buildings of the mosque and its seminary Jamia Hafsa could not be reopened unless their structures were made safe.

He said Nespak would carry out complete architectural study of the buildings and in the light of its recommendations they would be renovated and reinforced.

Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal’s frontline leader Liaquat Baloch recently warned the government that if the mosque was not opened by the coming Friday, the religious alliance would make its own arrangements to offer Friday prayer inside it on July 27.

Reports that the Lal Masjid could not be reopened even by August 1 have raised fears of more trouble in the offing.

At present the Masjid is surrounded by security forces and people are not allowed to enter into the restricted area.

Local and foreign mediapersons taken to the Masjid after the bloody stand-off there ended found the buildings of the mosque and Jamia Hafsa much damaged and partly gutted by the weapons and explosives used in the battle.

According to an official of the Capital Development Authority (CDA) Jamia Hafsa was constructed by the mosque administration illegally. A 25X25 feet plot was allotted for building the mosque but its administration expanded it into a complex by encroaching 2.2 acres of land already sold to three departments.

There was no option but to demolish Jamia Hasfa and give the land to concerned departments, he said.