Musharraf under pressure as mosque crisis deepens

ISLAMABAD: Facing growing pressure at home and abroad, Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf was to meet on Monday with key security staff in an attempt to end a deadly stand-off at a pro-Taliban mosque.

The Pakistani government says militants with links to Al-Qaeda have taken control of the Red Mosque in Islamabad and are holding hundreds of women and children as human shields to deter a full army assault. The stand-off between the security forces and militants at the mosque has left at least 20 people dead over the past week, and local television said Sunday Musharraf had authorized a final assault on the complex.   

"The meeting on Monday will review options to secure safe release of stranded women and children from the mosque," a senior government official said. Government officials said they feared the militants could execute some of the civilians inside the mosque complex. "We know they cannot fight with the army for long, but we know they can kill hundreds inside by suicide bombing after being stormed," an interior ministry official said.   

Troops have the complex surrounded and have been repeatedly calling on militants inside to surrender through loudspeakers. They have also blown holes in the walls to help people inside escape. As the stand-off entered a seventh day Musharraf faced calls from opposition leaders in London to step down. The All Parties Conference (APC) said his rule had brought the country "to the edge of a precipice".   

His government also faced pressure from close ally Beijing to do more to protect Chinese nationals in Pakistan after three Chinese workers were shot dead by suspected Islamic militants in the northern city of Peshawar. A fourth Chinese man was wounded in the raid at their residence in what security sources termed an apparent revenge attack over the mosque siege.   

In a statement, China's ambassador Luo Zhaohui told Pakistan "round up the culprits, properly handle the follow-up issues and take effective measures to protect all the Chinese in Pakistan." Students affiliated to the Red Mosque mosque have challenged the government since January with a Taliban-style anti-vice campaign, which has involved the abduction of several people they linked to prostitution, including seven Chinese.   

Security officials said the mosque militants included two Pakistani commanders from Harkatul-Jihad-e-Islami, a group linked to the beheading of US journalist Daniel Pearl and 2003 attempts to kill President Musharraf.  Fifteen militants have been issued with suicide jackets, one senior official said, citing intercepts. A mosque source identified the leader of the Harkatul-Jihad-e-Islami militants in the mosque as Abu Zar, a former accomplice of Farooqi, who was killed by security forces in 2004.   

Militants also shot at the legs of three girls who escaped, interior minister Aftab Sherpao told reporters. The government on Sunday released the first batch of 152 teenage male Islamic students who were detained after leaving the mosque. Prime Minister Aziz reiterated the government's call for the militants to release stranded men, women and children allegedly being held as human shields and surrender.   

Ghazi, 43, remained defiant. He and his followers have written wills saying that they would die rather than surrender, and that "martyrdom" would spark an Islamic revolution in extremism-hit Pakistan, a source at the mosque stated. "Our blood will not go to waste," Ghazi's will said.   

Pro-Taliban rebels distributed leaflets in Miranshah, the main town in the troubled North Waziristan tribal district bordering Afghanistan, urging Muslims to take up arms in revenge for students killed in the mosque.