By Rüdiger Falksohn
Two bearded brothers named Ghazi run the Red Mosque: Abdul Rashid, 43, an acquaintance of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, and Abdul Aziz, 46. The Ghazi brothers are men who carry Blackberrys and, as they insist, have no plans to take Pakistan back "to the Stone Age" or establish a theocracy. But they make little effort to deny claims that they sympathize with the Taliban or that the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is not Islamic enough for their taste. Their goal is to institute Sharia law in Pakistan. Intelligence officials, at least, are convinced that the Ghazi brothers are training suicide bombers.
The Pakistani army is deployed in Islamabad, but it hasn't stormed the mosque yet.
Conservatively dressed young people were dispatched to play the role of guardians of the public morals, their garb alone making it clear that the world, and Pakistani society, is too vulgar and obscene for their taste. Patrolling the areas around the parliament and supreme court buildings, the Ghazis' self-appointed moral police sought to impose their own moral code. They confiscated CDs they considered offensive. They "liberated" supposed prostitutes from their dens of iniquity. They kidnapped police officers and intimidated consumers in the city's shopping centers. And they forced barbers who dared to shave beards to close their shops.
Members of the Lal-Masjid Brigade, a group of excessively devout activists, occupied a children's library on Masjal Street in downtown Islamabad to protest the demolition of illegally built mosques. Establishing an ominous precedent, they removed video and audio equipment from the library and tossed it onto a bonfire.
The library's location next to the headquarters of the Pakistani intelligence agency, the ISI, was no coincidence. The ISI maintains close contacts with the religious leaders known as maulanas. Many senior agents pray at the Red Mosque, and it is widely believed that their patronage was what protected the Islamists from vigorous sanctions until early last week.
But in the end Musharraf who, in 1999, as commander-in-chief of the Pakistani military, brought the country to the brink of military conflict with India, chose to take harsh action against the fundamentalists. Armor-clad troop transporters and snipers were dispatched to the Red Mosque and its two Koran schools, or madrassas.
General Pervez Musharraf: Students have been staging their opposition to the government practically at the president's doorstep.
When the military upped the ante and blew a hole into the wall of the mosque on Thursday, a move that was followed by a series of targeted explosions on Friday to prepare for a storming of the mosque complex, Abdul Aziz Ghazi issued a public call for the students to surrender -- albeit not entirely voluntarily. The proud maulana, dressed in women's clothing, was arrested while attempting to flee and then paraded on television before the public in full burka attire. By Monday afternoon, well over 100 Koran students were still barricaded on the grounds of the mosque. The scene was reminiscent of the occupation of a mosque in Mecca in 1979 by 1,500 rebels, which ended in a bloodbath when French special forces raided the mosque. To avert a similar disaster, Musharraf ordered his troops to hold their fire to allow the young Taliban fighters to withdraw peacefully. But as soon as Friday evening prayers had ended they were back to exchanging fire with security forces.
On Sunday, the government gave a "final warning" to surrender and security forces fired tear gas and exchanged gunfire with rebels on Monday. But there haven't been any signs of the expected siege of the mosque. With women and children also holed up in the building, many possibly being held against their will as human shields, the government has tried to give them the opportunity to flee through holes blown in the walls last week. On Sunday, unmanned drones were dispatched to take infrared images that Pakistani TV reported had led the government to further delay any plans for a siege.
Was General Musharraf's decision to hold back a question of military logistics? Or did he vacillate too long, possibly in fear of the so-called "ninjas," a group of female Koran students dressed in the robes of avenging angels and determined to commit suicide attacks, holed up in the mosque? "They don't want to go home, they want to be martyrs," said a breathless 15-year-old Maryam Qayyeum, who had fled from the Koran school known for preaching hatred of everything Western and worldly.
Musharraf's true objective was probably to demonstrate his ability to deal with conflicts of this nature both prudently and patiently. The mosque has long been under the patronage of the Pakistani elite. "It was a creation of the government and has almost been firmly under its control," says Kashif Imran, a 28-year-old pharmacist. Like most Pakistanis, Imran is convinced that the crisis plays into the hands of Musharraf by enabling him to demonstrate his abilities, all the while making it clear to his adversaries and supporters alike that there is no alternative to Musharraf.
Pakistan, as it happens, is less of a state with an army than a functioning army with a weak state. Musharraf is in charge of both, at least until the fall elections.
True to form, he has no intention of allowing potential challengers to oppose his bid. Bhutto and Sharif, the two former prime ministers who have made their noble intentions clear with their carefully worded statements, will remain in exile for the time being. For his own security, Musharraf continues his practice of sleeping in a well-guarded military barracks instead of a more luxurious presidential residence. It appears that even elected dictators live dangerous lives.
Translated from the German by Christopher Sultan
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