Red mosque

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Satellite image of the mosque

The Red Mosque ( Urdu لال مسجد Lal Masjid ) is a Sunni mosque in the center of Islamabad , the capital of Pakistan . Their name is derived from the red outer walls and the red inner area.

The clergyman Maulana Abdullah was responsible for the central mosque, which was founded in 1966 . The clergy of the mosque are paid by the Pakistani state.

The mosque was built by the Auqaf Ministry (Pakistan's Ministry of Religious and Minority Affairs), which also administers and finances the mosque.

Affiliated is the largest Koran school in Pakistan with over ten thousand students. The spiritual leaders of the madrasa are openly committed to the Taliban and want to enforce Islamic Sharia law in Pakistan. The Koran school was run by Abdul Rashid Ghazi and his brother, Abdul Aziz Ghazi , until July 2007 . Both were or are sons of Maulana Abdullah.

history

The red mosque was built in 1965/1966 in the then newly founded Islamabad. Under the Pakistani military dictator Mohammed Zia ul-Haq , the mosque served as a contact for the government with the radical Islamic elements. The government promoted the radical Islamists massive, on the one hand a counterbalance to the Shiite- dominated Islamic revolution in Iran to form, on the other hand, the Islamic militias in the Kashmir conflict to support. Fighters for the fight against the Soviet army in Afghanistan were also recruited in the mosque .

In 1998 the founder of the mosque, Maulana Abdullah, was shot dead in front of her. The perpetrators were believed to be competing Shiite clergymen.

Members of the Pakistani military intelligence service ISI are said to have regularly prayed in the mosque. After the Pakistani government joined the US war on terror , there were calls for murder against Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf . When the mosque in London was to be searched by Pakistani security forces after the terrorist attacks on July 7, 2005 , they were pushed back by religious students armed with clubs .

Crisis in July 2007

Between April and July 2007, there was increasing provocation of supporters and students of the red mosque against the government. After Maulana Abdul Aziz established a Sharia court in the mosque on April 6, the students tried to enforce it, which led to the kidnapping of police officers and seven Chinese citizens.

On July 3, 2007, rioting broke out between students of the madrasa and Pakistan Rangers . A ranger and nine civilians died in an exchange of fire. The students set fire to several cars and the Ministry of Environment building. The Pakistani security forces cordoned off the Red Mosque and imposed a curfew. On July 4th, the government offered money and free education to those who would surrender at the mosque. More than 1,700 people then left the mosque. The head of the mosque, Maulana Abdul Aziz, who tried to escape wearing a burqa , was arrested among the refugees .

After negotiations between the militants and the government failed, units of the Special Service Group ( SSG ) stormed the mosque on July 10th . Abdul Rashid Ghazi died during the storm. After 36 hours of fighting, the government announced it had occupied the mosque. Official figures speak of 62 deaths, but a higher number is suspected.

In the days following the mosque storm, there were protests and suicide attacks on convoys of the Pakistani military in Pakistan . Some armed tribes in the tribal areas on the border with Afghanistan canceled the ceasefire that was only signed in September 2006 .

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Islamic Revolution . Zeit Online , 2007
  2. ↑ a b c d Lal Masjid: A name synonymous with radical Islam . The Indian Express , July 11, 2007
  3. ^ Profiles: Islamabad's Red Mosque . BBC , July 3, 2007
  4. ↑ a b Der Standard : Chronology of the tensions around the Red Mosque . July 10, 2007
  5. ↑ Radical cleric arrested in Islamabad ( Memento from July 13, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) FAZ.net , July 5, 2007 (video)
  6. ↑ a b Pakistan buries Red Mosque dead . BBC , July 12, 2007
  7. ↑ a b The story of a siege . The Guardian
  8. ↑ Red Mosque siege declared over . The Guardian , July 11, 2007
  9. ↑ Pakistan militants end truce deal . BBC , July 15, 2007

Coordinates: 33 ° 42 '46.4 "  N , 73 ° 5' 14.5"  E