The government will take “strong legal action” against Lal Masjid prayer leader Maulana Abdul Aziz and his brother Abdul Rashid Ghazi for announcing enforcement of Sharia and threatening to carry out suicide attacks if the government opposed their actions, Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao told a press conference here on Friday. Sherpao said the government would not bow to pressure and threats by the clerics and would take legal action against the Lal Masjid administration and its attached madrassas. “The clerics cannot enforce Sharia by a simple announcement at Lal Masjid and the government will see how they do so,” he said. A press note issued by the Interior Ministry said: “The government is cognisant of the events taking place in Lal Masjid and Jamia Hafsa. The government has exercised maximum restraint out of respect for the mosque and presence of female students who have been misled into such activities.”