Pakistani authorities are demolishing a battle-scarred Islamic madrasa in Islamabad’s Red Mosque complex, where scores of people were killed in an army assault this month, officials said on Wednesday.

Pakistan army commandos stormed the Lal Masjid or Red Mosque and adjoining Jamia Hafsa seminary for women on July 10, after followers of radical clerics who were running a Taliban-style movement from the complex refused to surrender.

Authorities say the government decided to raze the four-storeyed madrasa as its structure had been badly weakened by the fierce battles in the compound between security forces and the militants.

Dangerous
“We are demolishing the madrasa because technically it is very dangerous to sustain it,” said Kamran Lashari, head of the city municipality.

“The demolition is going on and it will be completed in three to four days,” he added.

However, he said the government had no plans to demolish the mosque, and it was being renovated to be reopened for prayers on Friday. Lal Masjid had long been known as an Islamic radicals’ stronghold, but hit international headlines this year when burqa-clad female students of Jamia Hafsa and their male colleagues launched an aggressive campaign to impose Taliban-style religious culture in Islamabad.

They kidnapped women they accused of involvement in prostitution, abducted police and attacked music shops.
The Pakistan government said 102 people were killed in eight days of fighting when security forces stormed the Lal Masjid complex.

MODERATE CLERIC APPOINTED
Islamabad, PTI: Ending the four-decade hold of radical clerics on the Lal Masjid here, Pakistan government has appointed a moderate to run its administration in the aftermath of the July 11 military raid against the mosque.
Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz appointed 55-year-old Maulana Ashfaq as the new Khateeb (cleric) of the Lal Masjid, who is currently with the nearby Bilal Masjid.

The new cleric, who belongs to the Deobandi school of thought, has been appointed on a basic pay and would be given extra perks and privileges.

Earlier this month, the radical head cleric of the Lal Masjid, Maulala Abdul Aziz, was arrested while he was attempting to flee wearing a burqa during a stand-off with the security forces while his brother Abdul Rashid Ghazi was killed in the Army operation.

Aziz and Ghazi’s family has controlled the mosque ever since it was built by the government in 1965 with their father Maulana Abdullah being its first cleric, who was appointed by then military ruler Ayub Khan.