Islamabad's Red Mosque cordoned off after threat from former prayer leader

Pakistan police have cordoned off the Red Mosque in the heart of the national capital after fresh tensions with its former prayer leader and controversial cleric Maulana Abdul Aziz who threatened to take over the state-owned mosque, police said on Sunday.

Aziz, the deposed cleric of the Red Mosque, had threatened to take over the mosque after reportedly one of his close aides, Maulana Idress, mysteriously disappeared from outside a seminary in Islamabad last week.

"We took measures on Friday to forestall his (Aziz) move (to take over the mosque) after our intelligence reported that Aziz could try to return to the mosque,” a police official said on anonymity.

The Maulana vacated the mosque about two months ago after an agreement with the government. Earlier, he had returned to the mosque and stayed there for weeks.

Apparently, Idrees disappeared from outside Jamia Fareedia on July 15. He was tasked by Aziz to oversee some construction work at the seminary.

Aziz was the chief cleric of the Red Mosque, better known as the Lal Masjid, until 2007 when he was arrested as he tried to escape during the military operation against the miscreants holding up in the mosque.

He was jailed and later released but was not reinstated as the prayer leader of the mosque, which is owned by the government.

Aziz made several attempts to retake the mosque but without any success. But he continued to create controversies.

In 2014, he named a library after slain former al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden, drawing international criticism.