PAKISTAN: Pakistan lifts curfew around Islamabad's radical mosque

Pakistani authorities have lifted a curfew that had been imposed for the last 12 days around an Islamabad radical mosque where a rebel cleric and his followers were killed this week after a stand-off with commandos. Pakistani authorities lifted a curfew early on Saturday morning (July 14) that had been imposed for the last 12 days around a radical mosque in capital city Islamabad, where a rebel cleric and his followers were killed this week after a stand-off with commandos. Several soldiers still guarded the Lal Masjid, or Red Mosque, where at least 75 supporters of hardline clerics were killed in Tuesday's (July 10) commando assault. The attack ended a week-long standoff between militants and security forces. Ten soldiers were also killed. But others returned to their bases in trucks as residents cautiously walked around to the shops for breakfast and to get food supplies. "We were in big trouble during the curfew as food supplies was low and we had hardly anything to eat. My shop was in the curfew area and I had no business at all," shopkeeper Mohammad Pervez told Reuters Television. The army left behind sandbagged bunkers in the suburb known as the G-6 area, a stark reminder of the events that gripped the nation for the past week. Some residents had other concerns. "When I came here yesterday, I discovered that my shop locks were broken, the door was ajar and all the books and some cash missing. Whatever the thieves could find, they carted away." bookshop owner Abdul Qayum said. Meanwhile, the storming of the mosque has intensified anti-government feelings in the northwest, particularly in tribal regions on the Afghan border. Hundreds protested against the crackdown in Peshawar after communal prayers on Friday (July 13), rallying against the government for its action. On Saturday, a suicide bomber killed eight Pakistani paramilitary soldiers and wounded 15 in an attack in the volatile North Waziristan region on the Afghan border, a military spokesman said. ENDS.

ITN Source | July 14, 2007

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