By Shakeel Anjum
ISLAMABAD: The Lal Masjid administration released seven Chinese nationals - six women and one man - and two Pakistani "customers", after 17-hour detention, following talks with senior police and administration officials, on Saturday.
Male and female students of Jamia Faridia, Jamia Hafsa and Beaconhouse School System, in a joint operation, kidnapped the Chinese women and Pakistani men shortly after midnight Friday from a Chinese massage centre, working at House No 17, Street 4, F-8/3, alleging that they were running a brothel. However, the hostages said they were running a massage centre and beauty parlour.
The release came only after Deputy Commissioner Chaudhry Muhammad Ali and Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Zafar Iqbal, who held talks with the Lal Masjid administration, beseeched it for five hours and even touched the knees of some leading clerics while begging for the freedom of the abductees.
At a news conference at Jamia Faridia, Abdur Rashid Ghazi, Naib Khateeb of Lal Masjid, announced the release of the abductees and threatened that similar action would be taken if any American was found involved in such activities in Pakistan. The Capital Police, however, registered a case against Maulana Abdul Aziz (Khateeb), Ghazi and others under Sections 365, 354, 452, 148, 149 and 109 of the Pakistan Penal Code and 7 Anti-Terrorism Act.
Muhammad Ali and Zafar Iqbal were sent to soften the administrators of Lal Masjid at 12.15 p.m. after a meeting with the interior secretary, the chief commissioner and the inspector general of the police. They left Lal Masjid at 5.25 p.m.
Riding in three vehicles, the students of Jamia Faridia and Jamia Hafsa as well as the students of Beaconhouse System of Schools raided the massage centre located in the posh Islamabad sector. They overpowered three Pakistani males and guards posted there after thrashing them.
They, later, entered the building and ordered those present there to accompany them. On refusal, the students thrashed them and forcibly took them to the Jamia Hafsa compound. They accused the abducted people of rendering un-Islamic and unlawful services.
The administration quietly let two "big shots", Pakistani customers, go and released their vehicles, seized from outside the massage centre, to avoid any legal action against the place as they had promised with the Lal Masjid administration in exchange for securing release of the hostages. The identity of these clients is not being disclosed.
Six females - Jaiang Ying, Wang Li, Wang Xin, Jiao Ling, Li Bo and Li Hong - and a male, Geg Min, were handed over to the district administration following a deal with them.
Ghazi said that the abductees had been set free in view of Sino-Pak friendship and the assurance that the massage centre would be shut down. He invited the Chinese ambassador to Islamabad to visit the Lal Masjid.
He said it was the responsibility of the government under the Constitution to provide an opportunity to Muslims to live their lives in accordance with Islam. He said foreigners living in Pakistan were also required to follow the Constitution.
Ghazi said the China massage centre was involved in sex trade and complaints were being received about it since long. "Even housewives used to tell us by phone that the centre charges Rs 1,000 for massage while by paying Rs 500, something else was also available," he said.
He said China as a country was not involved in this business but some individuals. These people should have been deported, he said, adding that the administration officials admitted that sex trade was going on at the centre. However, officials of the law-enforcement agencies were tackling the situation only on papers, he added.
Agencies add: Deputy Commissioner Chaudhry Muhammad Ali said the Lal Masjid management was told that they should inform the Islamabad administration about any alleged immoral activities instead of taking the law into their own hands.
"We have assured them that the administration will itself take action on such complaints and no one found to be involved in any immoral practice would be spared," he said. The deputy commissioner said the Lal Masjid administration had apologised to the Chinese government over the incident.
President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz were earlier given minute-by-minute reports of the negotiations regarding the release of the hostages. The president had directed the prime minister on telephone from Lahore to make sure the release of the Chinese abductees and update him on all the developments in this regard. The prime minister was in contact with the Islamabad administration and the Interior Ministry and getting minute-by-minute reports from State Minister for Interior Zafar Warriach.
The prime minister was informed at 3.30 p.m. that the abducted Chinese men and women had been released from the Jamia Hafsa and the president was immediately communicated about it.
According to sources, the president has condemned the arrest of the Chinese citizens and expressed his anger over the incident and directed the authorities concerned to adopt a comprehensive strategy to control such incidents in the future. The Chinese ambassador contacted President Hu Jintao two times during the 15-hour hostage drama, sources said. The ambassador called his president while holding talks with Pakistan Muslim League chief Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain at his residence.
The Chinese president expressed confidence that the Pakistan government would find out a peaceful solution to the hostage crisis. Sources quoted President Hu Jintao, expressing shock over the kidnapping of the Chinese nationals, has called for security for them. The ambassador informed his president about his talks with Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain. The PML leader also got telephonic contact established between the hostages and the ambassador.
China's Xinhua news agency said Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao had telephoned China's ambassador to apologise and assure him the hostages would be speedily released.
Students of Lal Masjid denied kidnappings and said they wanted to persuade the nine to give up their alleged vulgar ways.
President Musharraf has said he felt humiliated by his inability to oust the radical clerics from their city-centre mosque. They have about 5,000 followers at associated Madrassas.
Fears of a backlash, if any female student was hurt in an assault, has stayed the government's hand, he said. Instead, the government, which is struggling with a judicial crisis that is sapping its popularity, has tried to mollify the Islamists.
