As ye sow, so shall ye reap*
…aka “jaisi karni vaise bharni“.
Did anyone else realise the rich irony of “Jihad in Islamabad”?
The BBC reports that ”Radical Islamist students have shot dead a Pakistani soldier in clashes outside a rebellious mosque in the capital, Islamabad…”
From the report:
“…Armed students and clerics at the Lal Masjid (Red Mosque) have openly defied the authorities for months in their campaign for Islamic Sharia law.
…BBC’s Syed Shoaib Hasan …says regular police and paramilitary units ringing the mosque compound have now been replaced by what appear to be special forces. Ambulances and journalists have been told to move further away.
Dozens of students - mostly armed with sticks and petrol bombs, but some with guns and wearing masks - are patrolling around the mosque.
…The Lal Masjid and its seminaries have been at the centre of a number of confrontations with the authorities. They include the kidnapping of police and people the mosque says are involved in immoral activities.
Critics have attacked the government for failing to enforce its authority in the capital.
Correspondents say the authorities seem unwilling or unable to act. President Musharraf has said security forces cannot raid the mosque for fear of reprisal suicide attacks.”
I had worried about this kind of thing a few months ago. See The “Talibanisation” of Pakistan…”
UPDATE: The death toll is now reported at 12 people.
UPDATE # 2: The Chinese connection to Lal Masjid: (courtesy Acorn)
“By all accounts, the zealous promoters of virtue from Islamabad’s Lal Masjid went too far when they abducted nine Chinese nationals for running a brothel under the familiar guise of a massage parlour. For several reasons: China is an ‘all weather’ friend that Pakistan just cannot afford to annoy. But also because Islamabad’s powerful—including Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, leader of Pakistan’s ruling party—used to patronise that establishment to relax their weary muscles.
…Ultimately, Abdul Rashid Ghazi, Lal Masjid’s leader, announced that he had released the hostages in the interests of Pakistan-China friendship, on the government’s word that Islamabad’s massage parlours would be closed down.”
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In a separate newstory, the BBC also reported that a UK failed car bombing terror suspect was caught in Australia “carrying a one-way ticket to India” :-(
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