Explosion kills 13 near Pakistan’s Red Mosque

'Musharraf is a dog!'
But hopes that reopening the mosque would cool public anger over the siege — amid lingering skepticism over the official death toll — were dashed.

Bearded religious students and other hard-liners who gathered for prayers soon began chanting anti-government slogans and took control of the mosque compound.

“Musharraf is a dog! He is worse than a dog! He should resign!” students shouted.

They demanded the mosque’s former chief cleric, Abdul Aziz, be allowed to lead the prayers. Aziz was caught trying to escape the mosque compound during the siege wearing a woman’s burqa. He is currently in government detention.

The crowd also shouted support for Aziz’s brother, Abdul Rashid Ghazi, who led the siege until he was shot dead by security forces after refusing to surrender. He had spearheaded a vigilante, Islamic anti-vice campaign that had challenged the government’s writ in the city.

“Ghazi, your blood will lead to a revolution,” the protesters chanted.

Maulana Ashfaq Ahmed, the senior cleric whom the government had asked to lead the prayers, was quickly escorted from the mosque, as protesters waved angry gestures at him.

Raw emotions
In a speech at the main entrance of the mosque, Liaqat Baloch, deputy leader of a coalition of hard-line religious parties, the Mutahida Majlis-e-Amal, condemned Musharraf as a “killer.”

“Maulana Abdul Aziz is still the prayer leader of the mosque. The blood of martyrs will bear fruit. This struggle will reach its destination of an Islamic revolution. Musharraf is a killer of the constitution. He’s a killer of male and female students. The entire world will see him hang,” Baloch said.

Unrest later broke out on the street outside, as protesters confronted scores of riot police backed by armored personnel carriers. Police were armed, but there was no gunfire or reports of serious injuries.

After the bombing, police retook control of the mosque, said Zafar Iqbal, the city police chief. Some protesters resisted and about 50 people were arrested, he said.

Wahajat Aziz, a government worker who was among the protesters at the Red Mosque, said officials were too hasty in reopening the mosque.

“They brought an imam that people had opposed in the past,” he said. “This created tension in the environment. People’s emotions have not cooled down yet.”

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