‘1,000 civilians killed in Operation Silence’

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Army’s mission to flush militants out of the Lal Masjid may have snuffed the lives of 1,000 civilians. The claim was made by Pakistan’s Opposition leader Maulana Fazaulr Rehman on Thursday.

Rehman’s figure is based on the number of families that are searching for their young relations who were trapped in Jamia Hafsa and Jamia Faridia madrassas during the army’s Operation Silence.

Rehman said 2200 male and  female students of the two madrassas were present in the Lal Masjid complex on July 3 and only 1250 had surrendered.

The government has said that 73 people died in the operation, but intelligence sources apprised of the mission said the toll could be 300. That estimate is consistent with the fact that military authorities have ordered 400 shrouds from Abdul Sattar Edhi, the head of a private relief agency. Edhi confirmed the order to the media in Islamabad.

According to the intelligence sources, 286 bodies have so far been retrieved from the Lal Masjid and Jamia Hafsa complex. The bodies have been shifted to a private facility, the Sarhad Balochistan Cold Storage, in the I-8 Sector of
Islamabad.

The storage, which is located 15 miles from the Lal Masjid, is being guarded by heavy contingents of the Rangers and the Police; the press has been denied access to the area. The sources said the military regime is trying to suppress the knowledge of the killings that resulted from the poorly planned operation, fearing a backlash from the general public.  

As things stand, the sources said, hundreds of labourers were digging huge graves in the I-7 Sector’s graveyard for a mass burial. The sources said the crews were using floodlights to ensure that the graves are dug out and the bodies buried before dawn.

On Wednesday, a Pakistani military spokesman said that the fighting killed ten commandos and 73 militants, including Abdul Rashid Ghazi, the firebrand cleric at the centre of the standoff.

Of the hundreds of male and female students present in the Lal Masjid and the Jamia Hafsa complex when the operation began, only 83 made it out alive, most of them women and children.

The final toll is still unknown as the military authorities are reluctant to provide an exact figure; they say they are still clearing the bodies.

Yet, it is widely believed that a large number of those killed in the operation were civilians. While the military spokesman released figures of the militants killed by the security forces, he was silent on the number of female students killed.

The sources said that it would not be farfetched to assume that the female students who are still missing are probably dead, given the scope of the military operation.

The sources also pointed out that heavy fire was exchanged for 30 hours since the standoff began. The death of the girl students would be more destabilising for the regime than Maulana Abdul Rasheed Ghazi’s death, as many of the girls are said to be the daughters of the clergy and of serving and retired soldiers.

The government has deferred Ghazi’s burial to Thursday morning on the directions of the Supreme Court to allow the relations of the slain cleric to attend his funeral

The storage, which is located 15 miles from the Lal Masjid, is being guarded by heavy contingents of the Rangers and the Police; the press has been denied access to the area.

The sources said the military regime is trying to suppress the knowledge of the killings that resulted from the poorly planned operation, fearing a backlash from the general public. As things stand, the sources said, hundreds of labourers were digging huge graves in the I-7 Sector's graveyard for a mass burial. The sources said the crews were using floodlights to ensure that the graves are dug out and the bodies buried before dawn.

On Wednesday, a Pakistani military spokesman said that the fighting killed ten commandos and 73 militants, including Abdul Rashid Ghazi, the firebrand cleric at the centre of the standoff.

Of the hundreds of male and female students present in the Lal Masjid and the Jamia Hafsa complex when the operation began, only 83 made it out alive, most of them women and children.

The final toll is still unknown as the military authorities are reluctant to provide an exact figure; they say they are still clearing the bodies.

Yet, it is widely believed that a large number of those killed in the operation were civilians. While the military spokesman released figures of the militants killed by the security forces, he was silent on the number of female students killed.

The sources said that it would not be farfetched to assume that the female students who are still missing are probably dead, given the scope of the military operation.

The death of the girl students would be more destabilising for the regime than Maulana Ghazi's death, as many of the girls are said to be the daughters of the clergy and of serving and retired soldiers. .