The Lal Masjid report

The report tells us clearly that military assistance sought was lawful and necessary given the escalation of tensions.


Editorial April 28, 2013
The Lal Masjid saga represents the struggle that is undergoing in Pakistan between the extremists and the moderates and it is not going to be resolved anytime soon. ILLUSTRATION: ANAM HALEEM

The judicial commission mandated to investigate the 2007 Lal Masjid operation has released its report. Six years after the incident, which led to over 100 deaths, the operation continues to divide the polity demonstrating the extent to which Pakistan has mixed religion and politics. For a starter, it is a good development that the report has been made public. The report tells us clearly that military assistance sought was lawful and necessary given the escalation of tensions. In any case, Article 245 of the Constitution supports such interventions.



At the same time, the report of the one-man commission avoids fixing responsibility and also why the civil administration failed to tackle the problem. The larger question whether peaceful negotiations were possible also remains unanswered. While the report says that then prime minster Shaukat Aziz and president General (retd) Pervez Musharraf gave the “final decision”, it falls short of apportioning clear responsibility and the logical action to be taken. It has become commonplace to blame General (retd) Musharraf for everything that happened during 2007 — from the Lal Masjid fiasco to the imposition of emergency and to the assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto. The truth of the matter is that the civilians — both in the political sphere as well as in the bureaucracy — were fully involved in the decision-making.

Former ministers Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and Ijazul Haq have also been blaming General (retd) Musharraf in a rather opportunistic style. The Aziz brothers of Lal Masjid had challenged the writ of the state, amassed weapons in a seminary and were out to impose their brand of Sharia in Islamabad and elsewhere. General (retd) Musharraf was mocked for not taking action and once he did, he received harsh criticism for his actions. The media’s role in this episode also requires a fresh look as some media persons became a party to the conflict as it unfolded. The role of negotiators and competing intelligence agencies required a deeper investigation. The Lal Masjid saga represents the struggle that is undergoing in Pakistan between the extremists and the moderates and it is not going to be resolved anytime soon. Sadly, the commission report raises more questions than it answers.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 29th, 2013.

COMMENTS (15)

Dr Zafar Iqbal | 10 years ago | Reply

Evenif Ghazi brothers and their armed persons were culprits (it is debatable though), about 2000-3000 innocent children studying their were surely innocent, who were crucified there, and their bodies finds in Islamabad Nullahs (nalahs), girls and boys together. Our army with intelligence and commandos had the capabilities to catch the 100 militants there with much less bloodshed. I think objective was to show to US, EU and NATO what Musharraf and his close associates (including Ijaz-ul-Haque, Chaudhary brothers etc.) were prepared to do for them, to seek the support of US, EU and NATO to support them remain in power for yet another 5 years or So. Unfortunate for them, this went out of their control and all of them are now being humiliated, either by Courts, by public through pools in Pakistan Elections 2013 or by poor afghani gorilla forces in Afghanistan.

Assad | 10 years ago | Reply

The responsibility lays with the Ghazi brothers and their fassadi henchmen armed with automatic weapons. Our Country is made up of hypocrites. The surviving Ghazi brother should have been sent to the gallows along with his militant supporters. The Musharraf government should have been praised for taking action against these anti-state traitors to set a precedence for other cowards like the TTP who attack innocents and hold them hostage to get more power by blackmail.

Yet our shameless media, print and electronic, is as guilty as the militants themselves. The media clouds the minds of the people with hypocrisy - first they called for action, when it happened, then they played to the militants music and condemned Musharraf and the Army and lied to the nation about dead women and girls when there was not more than one!

So why cry over this self-created situation? Pakistan is not too far from becoming another Somalia. Our media, right wing politicians and the militants are working hand in hand to ensure this. So I wish them the best and hope they enjoy the many coming decades of total anarchy and hypocrisy as it reigns supreme!

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