Pakistan’s Battles Against Islamic Militants Reach the Capital
By JANE PERLEZ and CARLOTTA GALL
New York Times
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, July 3 — A months-long standoff between the Pakistani government and Islamic militants holed up in a mosque in the heart of the capital erupted in violence on Tuesday. The fierce clashes between security forces and students left at least nine people dead and scores wounded.
The fighting exposed the normally placid capital to the wider divisions between moderates and militants in Pakistan, shattering the notion that the seat of government was immune from extremism.
The crackle of gunfire and the arc of tear gas could be heard and seen from blocks away soon after the confrontation began in the afternoon around Lal Masjid, or Red Mosque, a prominent place of worship in the capital. Students attacked a nearby government building where security forces had taken up positions, setting fires and sending black smoke billowing into the sky.
Each side blamed the other for causing the violence. Among those killed were a Pakistani Army ranger and two students from a pair of religious schools, or madrasas, that accommodate male and burka-clad female students in separate buildings.
The leader of the madrasa for young men, Abdur Rashid Ghazi, has used the students over the last six months to challenge the leadership of Pakistan’s president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf. Mr. Ghazi, who apparently has the backing of a number of militant groups, insists that Pakistan follow Islamic law and keep good relations with the Taliban, whose influence the United States has consistently asked General Musharraf to confront more aggressively.
(Continued here.)
New York Times
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, July 3 — A months-long standoff between the Pakistani government and Islamic militants holed up in a mosque in the heart of the capital erupted in violence on Tuesday. The fierce clashes between security forces and students left at least nine people dead and scores wounded.
The fighting exposed the normally placid capital to the wider divisions between moderates and militants in Pakistan, shattering the notion that the seat of government was immune from extremism.
The crackle of gunfire and the arc of tear gas could be heard and seen from blocks away soon after the confrontation began in the afternoon around Lal Masjid, or Red Mosque, a prominent place of worship in the capital. Students attacked a nearby government building where security forces had taken up positions, setting fires and sending black smoke billowing into the sky.
Each side blamed the other for causing the violence. Among those killed were a Pakistani Army ranger and two students from a pair of religious schools, or madrasas, that accommodate male and burka-clad female students in separate buildings.
The leader of the madrasa for young men, Abdur Rashid Ghazi, has used the students over the last six months to challenge the leadership of Pakistan’s president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf. Mr. Ghazi, who apparently has the backing of a number of militant groups, insists that Pakistan follow Islamic law and keep good relations with the Taliban, whose influence the United States has consistently asked General Musharraf to confront more aggressively.
(Continued here.)
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