[DAWN] The deposed holy man of Lal Masjid...literally the
Red Mosque, located in Islamabad and frequented by all sorts of high govt officials. The proprietors, Ghazi Abdul Rasheed and Maulana Abdul Aziz Ghazi, unleashed their Islamic storm troopers on the city, shutting down whorehouses and beating people up who weren't devout enough. The Musharraf govt put an end to the nonsense by besieging the place. Abdul Aziz Ghazi was nabbed while he was trying to escape dressed up like a girl. BBC reported that the corpse count at 173, but other claims, usually hysterical, say there were up to 1000 titzup. Among their number was Abdul Rashid Ghazi. Everyone then said tut-tut and what a nice guy he had been...
Maulana Abdul Aziz
...nutball holy man who runs the Lal Masjid in the heart of Pakistain's capital. After instigating a rebellion against the state in 2007, he was caught trying to sneak away dressed in a burka. He rejects democracy as un-Islamic, which it probably is...
is set to stir another controversy as he has decided to preside over a conference to mark the 10th anniversary of Lal Masjid operation.
"Invitations will be sent to the president, prime minister, the director general of the ISI and the federal cabinet along with leaders of like-minded political and religious parties to attend the conference," said a close aide to the holy man.
The conference, scheduled to be held on July 7, will be organised by Shuhada Foundation at Lal Masjid.
The foundation announced that the conference would not only be a milestone towards the implementation of ’Sharia’ but would also prove to be a referendum towards the imposition of Islam in the country.
"We will file an application with the capital administration on Tuesday so that there is an ample time for them to clear all queries," the holy man’s aide added.
"Similarly, invitations will be forwarded to key religious and political personalities and the leadership of the country as well as the head of the intelligence agency this week."
He said extending invitations to key officials would help the organisers put pressure on the local administration to grant permission for the conference besides facilitating the guests to set their schedule well on time to attend the event.
Meanwhile,
...back at the precinct house, Sergeant Maloney wasn't buying it. It was just too pat. The whole thing smelled phony, kind of like a dead mackeral but without the scales...
a front man for the Shuhada Foundation said there was no need to obtain any NOC from the government as the conference was being held inside the mosque.
"If they do not give us the NOC we will approach the Islamabad High Court to get out right to hold the conference to highlight the sacrifices rendered by our comrades for the implementation of Islam in the country," said Hafiz Ehtesham Ahmed, the front man.