Pakistan pressured over radical mosque

[Eugene]

Source: Associated Press

Pakistan pressured over radical mosque

By MATTHEW PENNINGTON, Associated Press Writer
1 hour, 54 minutes ago

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Opposition parties pressured President
Gen. Pervez Musharraf's government Tuesday to crack down on a
pro-Taliban mosque after a spate of kidnappings of police officers
by Islamic students.

Stick-wielding students associated with Islamabad's Lal Masjid, or
Red Mosque — who are also behind a freelance anti-vice campaign
— have abducted at least seven police officers since Friday,
twice drawing armed forces onto the city's streets.

-snip-

Opposition parties accuse intelligence agencies of manipulating
the events to divert media attention from a crisis triggered by
Musharraf's controversial suspension of the country's top judge, or
as a ruse to justify declaring a state of emergency — a conspiracy
theory with considerable traction in Pakistan's murky politics.

-snip-

"I don't think there's connivance. The situation has got too much
out of control," said Talat Masood, a former Pakistani general and
political analyst. "Now these people (at Lal Masjid) have become
powerful, and Musharraf is becoming helpless."

-snip-

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070522/ap_on_re_as/pakistan_radical_mosque_2

[Eugene]

1. Police freed from Pakistan mosque

Source: BBC News

Last Updated: Thursday, 24 May 2007, 15:15 GMT 16:15 UK

Police freed from Pakistan mosque

Hardline Islamist clerics at a mosque in the Pakistani capital,
Islamabad, have freed two police officers they had held
hostage for almost a week.

The policemen were part of a group of four officers kidnapped
at Islamabad's Red Mosque last Friday in retaliation for the
arrest of 11 seminary students.

Two officers were freed a day later amid a tense stand-off
with police.

-snip-

The kidnappings were the latest in a series of bold challenges
from the mosque to the authority of Pakistani leader, Gen
Pervez Musharraf.

-snip-

Read more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6688219.stm