The future of Lal Masjid hangs in balance after the residents of Sector G-6 supported by students of the mosque refused to offer prayer behind any Imam except Maulana Abdul Aziz, former in charge of the mosque compelling the local authorities to close down it for indefinite period. It was expected that the Lal Masjid stand off has ended with the conclusion of bloody military operation, but changing its colour, name and Imam of the mosque was not welcomed by the locals creating a new wave of confrontation in Islamabad which was seen when the mosque reopened for the first time on July 27 for the Friday prayer which was to be led by a newly deputed Imam, Maulana Muhammad Ashfaq.

A pitched battle between the residents/students and the police on the occasion of the Friday prayer followed by a suicide attack near the mosque has raised many questions and challenges for the government. For instance, how the sentiments of locals can be cooled down? How can the mosque be reopened for normal course of worship? Will there be normalcy in the mosque or will it remain a flashpoint in the capital?

Now the local administration has realised that people of the area and students of Jamia Fareedia, a seminary of Lal Masjid, will never accept any change in the mosque so easily, especially demolition of Jamia Hafsa's building. The government while renovating the bullet-riddled mosque, changed its colour from red to beige, giving it a new name as Markazi Jamia Masjid and Maulana Muhammad Ashfaq was appointed as its new Imam. However, the locals and students of Lal Masjid reoccupied the mosque last Friday, turned its colour again into red and wrote the word Lal Masjid on outer walls and on the tomb of the mosque after manhandling and kicking out the new Imam from the mosque.

The government's efforts to normalise the situation in Sector G-6 by completely lifting curfew and appointing official Imam of the mosque Maulana Muhammad Ashfaq remained futile as the locals of the area and other supporters of defunct administration of Lal Masjid asked local administration to bring back Maulana Abdul Aziz into the mosque for the Friday prayer.

As the mosque re-opened for the first time on Friday for the general public after the military operation, the scene in the Lal Masjid complex was totally changed for worshipers as Jamia Hasfa and most part of the mosque had been demolished, rubbles of razed buildings could be seen and the remaining portion of the mosques gave a new look with change in colour from red to beige.

The reaction of the people has forced authorities concerned to reconsider their plan regarding utilisation of Jamia Hafsa land because rebuilding of Jamia Hafsa on the same place has been demanded by the people of the area and its students. They threatened the government that would not accept anything new on the land that was Jamia Hafsa.

Now, the mosque is under control of the security forces and its colour has been changed again into beige but nobody knows that for how long the game of colour change will continue.

Hundreds of supporters of Maulana Aziz, who is still under police custody, sprung out, slipped into the mosque and reoccupied it for quite a few hours on Friday last, exposing the capability of all intelligence agencies and security departments who could not assess the reaction of the worshipers who were already angry at the killing of their friends and colleagues in the bloody operation that concluded on July 12, claiming 102 lives.

In the ’80s, a similar move was made to change the colour of the mosque from red to green but the then President Gen Ziaul Haq, who was one of the biggest supporters of Maulana Abdullah, former in charge of the mosque and father of Maulana Abdul Aziz and the late Maulana Abdul Rashid Ghazi, foiled the attempt and ordered to turn the mosque into red. At that time Lal Masjid had also become a talk of the town as there was reportedly an international pressure on the government to check the activities of the Lal Masjid administration and influx of the Jihadis who were taking part in the Afghanistan-Russia war.

It is expected that the government, this time again, will fail to change the status of Lal Masjid, its colour and name and there is a possibility that the government would appoint a new Imam for the mosque from one of the teachers who have been imparting religious education to Lal Masjid students. This seems to be the only option to pacify the angry supporters of Lal Masjid.

Uncertainty and ambiguity still looms large over the number of deaths in Lal Masjid in the final round of Operation Silence on July 11. As the students of the mosque had categorically rejected the government's claim that only 77 people, who were called 'militants', had been killed and no other civilian was present in the mosque when the SSG commandos stormed into the mosque on July 11.

However, recovery of some remains of human bodies, including children from the rubble of Jamia Hafsa confirmed the claim of the students that a number of women and children were also killed in the operation. On the first day of reopening of the mosque on Friday last after lapse of 25 days, some girl students of Jamia Hafsa also visited the site of the demolished building of the seminary and mourned the death of their colleagues.

It is feared that those who came out from the mosque and surrendered before the security forces during the eight-day siege are the ones to react and create problems for the government because they have seen the killing of their colleagues during the battle and it is very difficult for them to forget the painful memories. Similarly, two suicide attacks that occurred in Islamabad in the aftermath of the Lal Masjid operation not only had serious consequences but also proved right the claims of Maulana Abdul Aziz that a series of suicide attacks will take place in the country in general and particularly in Islamabad if any raid was conducted on Lal Masjid. Questions remain in our minds as to what is the fate of the Lal Masjid and all the people affected by the operation, the residents of nearby localities and the present government.