Police on Thursday presented Lal Masjid chief cleric Abdul Aziz in an anti-terrorism court in Rawalpindi, where Judge Sakhi Muhammad Kahut remanded him in police custody for seven days.
| Not that anything will come of it, mind you... |
Aziz and his daughter were arrested on Wednesday as he tried to flee from Lal Masjid wearing a burqa amidst a group of girls. His daughter was remanded in judicial custody. There were reports that AzizÂ’ wife and Jamia Hafsa principal Umm-e-Hussan was arrested with him, but she denied the reports, telling TV channels over the phone that she was still in the mosque.
| Aziz and his brother Abdul Rashid Ghazi face seven cases of murder, attempted murder, ransack and subversive activities. |
Aziz was presented in court amidst tight security under the command of Inspector Shahid Naeem. His remand was sought in the case of the kidnapping of Chinese nationals. The case was lodged in Margalla police station, but it is not known where Aziz is being kept. The police did not allow journalists to get pictures and interviews of Aziz during his presentation in court, and kept them at a distance with gun butts and batons.
Aziz and his brother Abdul Rashid Ghazi face seven cases of murder, attempted murder, ransack and subversive activities. Ghazi was still in Lal Masjid on the third day of the siege. Aziz had told a TV channel that he tried to escape covered in a burqa in consultation with his brother Ghazi.
|