The Laal Masjid
The Lal Masjid (Red Mosque) Operation was carried out by Pakistani armed forces against clerics and students of Lal Masjid, Islamabad, Pakistan in July of 2007. The operation divided opinions among Pakistanis at home and abroad.
Very few people outside or inside of Pakistan received accurate information on the Operation as their primary source of knowledge was the Pakistani or International media. Therefore several of the opinions lack hard factual basis, are contradictory to one another or simply going against eye-witness accounts. In this article we analyze a discussion by the Grand Mufti of Pakistan Mufti Rafi Uthmani (DB) who was at Islamabad at the time of the operation. We shall attempt to scrutinize his claims and those of the media using hard evidences and endeavor to separate fact from fiction.
The following is an English translation of his speech that he gave sometime after the operation. (The original in Urdu can be found here)
Speech begins here:
“Respected Elders and dear brothers, I know that you are eager to know what happened at Lal Masjid and that you are sad and frustrated at this bloody game. Whole of Pakistan is frustrated.
The details are more or less in front of you; via newspapers, radio and televisions. But we have one complaint with the media that they did not elaborate on the Truth (of what happened) in the manner that Truth should be elaborated. They are not clarifying what is obvious. They are leaving doubts, and the media has adopted a hostile attitude. Hostile attitude towards ulema and religious circles such as adopted towards an enemy nation. This is a worrisome situation.
We can only complain of this situation to Allah (SWT). We are without power, army and weapons; and to use arms against your own government is not permissible either. In this situation, except that we repent for our sins to Allah, this is the first step, because all the problems that come upon us are the fruit of our own doings. In our own Pakistan the
Very few people outside or inside of Pakistan received accurate information on the Operation as their primary source of knowledge was the Pakistani or International media. Therefore several of the opinions lack hard factual basis, are contradictory to one another or simply going against eye-witness accounts. In this article we analyze a discussion by the Grand Mufti of Pakistan Mufti Rafi Uthmani (DB) who was at Islamabad at the time of the operation. We shall attempt to scrutinize his claims and those of the media using hard evidences and endeavor to separate fact from fiction.
The following is an English translation of his speech that he gave sometime after the operation. (The original in Urdu can be found here)
Speech begins here:
“Respected Elders and dear brothers, I know that you are eager to know what happened at Lal Masjid and that you are sad and frustrated at this bloody game. Whole of Pakistan is frustrated.
The details are more or less in front of you; via newspapers, radio and televisions. But we have one complaint with the media that they did not elaborate on the Truth (of what happened) in the manner that Truth should be elaborated. They are not clarifying what is obvious. They are leaving doubts, and the media has adopted a hostile attitude. Hostile attitude towards ulema and religious circles such as adopted towards an enemy nation. This is a worrisome situation.
We can only complain of this situation to Allah (SWT). We are without power, army and weapons; and to use arms against your own government is not permissible either. In this situation, except that we repent for our sins to Allah, this is the first step, because all the problems that come upon us are the fruit of our own doings. In our own Pakistan the