A chronology of the Lal Masjid standoff
ISLAMABAD, July 3: Here is a chronology of the Lal Masjid administration’s standoff with the government since the start of 2007:
January: Burqa-clad female students from Jamia Hafsa occupy a state-run children’s library in protest at plans to demolish several mosques illegally built on the government land in Islamabad.
Feb 13: Authorities agree to rebuild one demolished mosque in a bid to end the library standoff. Religious Affairs Minister Ijazul Haq lays bricks for the new mosque.
March: Male and female students begin anti-vice patrols targeting music and video shops in Islamabad bazaars and brothels.
March 27: Female students abduct three women they accuse of running a brothel, then later seize two policemen. All are released after the women supposedly repent and are shown to the media wearing burqas.
April 6: The mosque sets up a sharia court. Mosque chief Abdul Aziz pledges `thousands’ of suicide attacks if the government tries to shut it down.
April 9: The sharia court passes fatwa against the then tourism minister Nilofar Bakhtiar after she is pictured hugging a parachuting instructor.
April 10: Government says it has blocked the mosque’s illegal website and radio station.
May 19: Students kidnap four policemen after the arrest of around a dozen mosque supporters. Two days later students from a seminary linked to the Lal Masjid kidnap two other policemen. All are eventually freed.
June 23: Dozens of students kidnap nine people, including six Chinese women and a Chinese man, from a massage centre, claiming it is a brothel. All are freed later the same day.
June 27: China tells Pakistan to step up its protection of Chinese workers.
July 3: Several people were killed in battles between security forces and students at the mosque.
Source: Dawn
Date:7/4/2007
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