Flirting with Mullahs

The Jamia Hafsa seminary which has been the centre of much recent controversy in Pakistan, is attached to Islamabad's famous Lal Masjid (red mosque) located near the city centre.

Throughout most of its existence, the mosque has long been favoured by the city elite, including prime ministers, army chiefs and presidents.

Pakistan's longest-ruling dictator, General Zia-ul-Haq, was said to be very close to the former head of the Lal Masjid, Maulana Abdullah, who was famous for his speeches on jihad (holy war).

Musharraf's flirt with Mullahs has gone too far. When he took power he was all powerful and could have shaped the future of this country. Alas! he decided to go for a weak democracy. It is something direct from his own cookbook, which had all the ingredients of a failure but no success. Now he is begging for votes on streets while Mullahs are in ambush to take over this country.

If the government have had taken a stern action against the children library situation in Islamabad the 'Talibanization' drive by Mullahs in Islamabad would have not happened. One of my friends who is a working woman and had been living alone in Islamabad mentioned several times to me that she feels uncomfortable going around late in the evening because she feels that Mullahs are every where. Then she always laughed it off herself and said may be she is getting paranoid, but after this hostage incident in Islamabad, I don't think she is paranoid.
When you hangout with the wrong crowd then you have to face the music (well, in this case chants and baton toting girls but no music) .