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| India-Pakistan |
| Lal Masjid denies breakthrough in talks |
| 2007-04-26 |
| Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, president of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League (PML), declared on Wednesday that the stand-off with Lal Masjid in the capital had been “amicably resolved”, but the mosque’s administration denied there had been a breakthrough in talks, saying several issues were yet to be resolved. Shujaat told journalists at the National Assembly that all issues had been settled amicably during his talks with the clerics that head the mosque on Tuesday. “They had two main demands; reconstruction of mosques and enforcement of Islamic Sharia,” he told reporters, according to Reuters. “We have agreed to rebuild the mosques and as far as Islamic Sharia is concerned, Pakistan is an Islamic Republic and measures can be taken to improve the laws,” he said. The deputy chief cleric at Lal Masjid denied this. “There is no such agreement,” Abdul Rashid Ghazi said. “There has been an understanding from the beginning that they will rebuild our mosques and enforce Islamic laws and in return students will vacate the library. We will hand over the library to an Islamic government.” Sources told Online that Shujaat would brief the National Assembly on the details of his talks with the Lal Masjid administration today. Meanwhile, the situation appeared unchanged at the Lal Masjid compound and its Jamia Hafsa and Jamia Fareedia madrassas. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #1 "Nope. We're still being assholes." |
| Posted by: mojo 2007-04-26 10:10 |