Government inaction slammed

Islamabad: Hundreds of citizens from federal capital and civil society organisations protested in Islamabad yesterday over the government's inaction against militant students.

An extremist hardcore has been terrorising citizens for weeks, and have also threatened the media, warning them to avoid publishing "vulgar" or "un-Islamic" material or they will face dire consequences.

Dr Shireen Mazari, who is a renowned scholar and chairperson of a think-tank, told Gulf News that the civil society has come forward to demand the government control these militant students.

So far no action has been taken against the extremists who have taken the law into their own hands and challenged the government's writ in the federal capital.

"It is unfortunate the militants are threatening barbers, beauticians and shopkeepers selling CDs and DVDs just to stop their businesses, but the government is a silent spectator, and the civil society urges action against such extremists," Mazari said.

Sacred places

Another organiser, Dr. Fauzia urged officials to take immediate action against Lal Masjid and Jamia Hafsa extremists and to vacate sacred places from "these terrorists".

"These people are giving a bad reputation to the country and our religion as well, they have no right to occupy such sacred places," she said.

Meanwhile the militant students of Lal Masjid and Jamia Hafsa have reportedly sent a letter to all newspapers and magazines in the federal capital to stop publishing "vulgar" and "un-Islamic" material otherwise stern action will be taken against them.

"Upon taking note of vulgar and un-Islamic material in newspapers and magazines the students have written a letter to their administration to warn against publishing un-Islamic material," a source inside the seminary told Gulf News.

"Pakistan is an Islamic state and all media organisations have to follow Islamic rules and regulations while publishing any material in their newspapers and magazines," states the letter.

"If the media organisations do not mend their ways and refuse to follow Islamic laws, we will be forced to take every possible step to put an end to such practices," they warned.

The students added that before taking any stern action against, they will seek due permission from "Darul Iftah" (authority to issue Islamic edict) against such un-Islamic elements.

Tens of thousands protest against hardliners in Lahore

Lahore: Liberals and rights activists rallied in the Pakistani city of Lahore yesterday to press the government to act against radical students behind a Taliban-style anti-vice campaign in the capital Islamabad.

"Mullahs have ruined our society. They have distorted the image of Islam. We'll not accept extremism anymore," Jugnu Mohsin, a rights activist, told a rally after around 700 people had marched, shouting slogans outside Lahore's High Court.

Tens of thousands of Pakistanis protested in Karachi last Sunday to denounce the hardliners at Islamabad's Lal Masjid, or Red Mosque, for trying to impose their values on the rest of the country.

Progressive minded Pakistanis have been shocked for weeks by the antics of stick-wielding burqa-clad female students from Jamia Hafsa, a radical seminary or madrasa next door to the mosque.

The students have pressured music and video store owners in the neighbourhood to close, but their major publicity coup was the abduction last month of three women from a brothel. People were further alarmed two weeks ago when a senior cleric at Lal Masjid threatened to unleash suicide bombers if the government used force to stop a movement intent on implementing strict Sharia law in the capital.

- Reuters