ISLAMABAD, April 14: Students and teachers of Jamia Hafsa have invited President Pervez Musharraf to the institution in a bid to defuse the confrontation over their anti-vice campaign.

“We invite him; he is welcome, most welcome,” said Maryam, a teacher, on Saturday.

“We will provide him security once he is inside the walls of Lal Masjid and Hafsa,” she said.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz told Reuters in Karachi: “Naturally, our desire is to settle the issue peacefully, particularly because there are about 3,000 students in the madressah and we are very conscious of their safety.”

“We will not allow anybody to harass people, to tell them which business to be in and which not,” he said.—Reuters