Red Mosque leader released from jail, calls for sharia in Pakistan

by: Salaam

Fri Apr 17, 2009 at 20:40:42 PM EDT

Maulana Abdul Aziz, center in glasses, is escorted by police as he arrive to attend the funeral of his brother Abdul Rashid Ghazi, who was killed in the siege of Lal Masjid or Red Mosque, at his ancestral village Basti Abdullah, some 400 (kilometers (249 miles) west of Multan, Pakistan, Thursday, July 12, 2007. Aziz led funeral prayers for his slain brother, and forecast that the death of the mosque's militant defenders would push Pakistan toward an "Islamic revolution."

The former head cleric of Pakistan's Red Mosque, the scene of a standoff between the government and Islamic students in 2007, has called for Islamic law to be imposed in Pakistan and the wider world.

Maulana Abdul Aziz returned to the Red Mosque in Islamabad for prayers on Friday, a day after his almost two-year house arrest was lifted.

About 3,000 of his supporters attended, reports said.

"God willing, our sacrifices will not go in vain and the religion of Islam will be implemented not only in Pakistan but all over the world," Aziz told followers who crammed into the mosque and on the street outside.

"We are peaceful people but if our way is blocked then you have witnessed the scenes in Swat and in Fata," he said, referring to the ethnic Pashtun Federally Administered Tribal Areas on the Afghan border.

Released on bail
On Wednesday, the Supreme Court ordered Aziz's release from house arrest on 200,000 rupees ($2,500) bail.

His lawyer said that 27 cases had been filed against him and bail had been granted earlier in 25 of them while one case had been dropped.

The Red Mosque, in the heart of the Pakistani capital, made international headlines in July 2007 when more commandos stormed the complex after a week-long standoff with Aziz's followers.

More than 100 people were killed in the ensuing violence.

Story here.