Cleric in besieged Pakistan mosque offers surrender, gov´t says no

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Source: CCTV.com | 07-06-2007 08:27

Pakistani religious students surrender outside the Lal Masjid, or Red Mosque in Islamabad wldThursday, July 5, 2007. (AP Photo/B.K.Bangash)

A Pakistani cleric holed up in a mosque in Islamabad says he and his followers are willing to surrender, raising hopes of an end to a confrontation in which 19 people have died.

Abdul Rashid Ghazi was speaking in a telephone interview broadcast on Geo Television as security forces surrounded the Red Mosque where he and hundreds of followers had held off a siege since Tuesday.

The cleric says his followers should be released if authorities can not prove they belonged to any banned militant groups, or are not wanted for any crime.

But the government says there will be no more talks with the militants.

Tariq Azim, deputy information minister, said, "Although it's been our policy that this matter should be resolved amicably through dialogue, but unfortunately this did not bring the required results. So there will be no more dialogue. It has to an absolutely total surrender, unconditional total surrender."

Soldiers backed by armored vehicles and helicopters surrounded the Red Mosque, before dawn Wednesday a day after the start of clashes between security forces and radical followers of the mosque. Nineteen people have been killed in the confrontation.

The violence brought to a head a six-month standoff between Pakistan's government and its top cleric Abdul Aziz, who has challenged President Pervez Musharraf with a drive to impose Taliban-style Islamic law in the city.

Aziz, who was captured on Wednesday say up to 700 women and about 250 men remained inside the complex, armed with more than a dozen AK-47 assault rifles.

The government says it will not storm the mosque so long as women and children remained inside. However, several explosions rocked the area during intense gunfire before dusk on Thursday.

Editor:Du Xiaodan