Lal Masjid operation: Capital police ordered to submit record in SC

Cleric’s lawyer contends Jamia Hafsa has still not been rebuilt.

ISLAMABAD:

The capital police was directed, on Thursday, to produce the complete record of the 2007 Lal Masjid military operation in the Supreme Court.

The record includes the number of FIRs registered against illegal activities carried out by seminary students and action taken by the administration for maintenance of law and order.

A three-member bench of the Supreme Court headed by Chief Justice Iftkhar Muhammad Chaudhry resumed hearing of the case pertaining to the operation in which dozens of seminary students and security officials lost their lives in a bloody stand-off between the mosque’s administration and security forces.

Islamabad Police Additional Inspector General (Operations) Tahir Alam said that the force would submit a para-wise reply before the court on Friday to explain its role in the episode.

During Thursday’s hearing, Alam also informed the court that an FIR has been registered against the operation’s perpetrators, including former dictator Pervez Musharraf. The CJ said it was regrettable that a brutal operation was launched against a mosque.

Kamal Shah, former interior secretary, did not appear before the court, but the interior ministry was represented  by its lawyer, Ahmar Bilal Sufi.

The court also enquired about the viewpoint of Wafaqul Madaris on the issue. The attorney for Wafaqul Madaras, Iftikhar Husain Gilani said, the decision to pay compensation was made in 2007, but the amount has not been disbursed to all the victims’ relatives, Gilani said.

Meanwhile, the debate over construction of Jamia Hafsa also continued in the Supreme Court. The counsel for Jamia Hafsa Tariq Assad informed the court the decision to rebuild the seminary has not been implemented so far, which amounts to contempt of court.

Lal Masjid cleric Maulana Abdul Aziz had managed to get choice land in Sector H-11 for rebuilding the girls’ seminary razed during the 2007 military operation.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 25^th, 2012.