3,000 WOMEN, A MOSQUE, AND GUNS: A STORY ANY

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 ISLAMABAD 001647

SIPDIS

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SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/02/2017
TAGS: PGOV PK PREL
SUBJECT: 3,000 WOMEN, A MOSQUE, AND GUNS: A STORY ANY
JOURNALIST WOULD LOVE

REF: A. ISLAMABAD 0625

B. ISLAMABAD 0897

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Classified By: Charge Peter Bodde 1.5 (b),(d).

SUMMARY AND INTRODUCTION


1. (C) Fiery headlines in the Pakistani and international
press about Islamabad's Red (Lal) Mosque and the adjacent
women's madrassah (seminary) could lead readers to believe
that talibanization has spread to Islamabad -- or that
extremism has appeared suddenly at the Red Mosque. In
reality, the Red Mosque and its leaders have been at the
center of Islamist ideology for decades. The current
controversy will probably be resolved in the next few weeks,
and President Musharraf's plan to use religious leaders to
educate the public on the problematic nature of the Red
Mosque's efforts seems to be working. The President treads
a narrow line, though. A misstep leading to the death of a
female seminarian could ignite the street. End Summary and
Introduction.

THE RED MOSQUE -- NOT NEW TO CONTROVERSY


2. (C) Islamabad,s Red Mosque (Lal Masjid) and its
adjacent women's seminary, Jamia Hafsa Madrassah, are located
in Islamabad's section G-6, within a mile of the Diplomatic
Enclave and Pakistan's government buildings. Jamia Hafsa is
reportedly home to between 2,500 and 3,000 girls and women.
The Red Mosque also operates Islamabad,s largest men's
madrassah, Jamia Fareedia, located near Faisal Mosque, about
five miles from the Red Mosque. Jamia Fareedia houses 7,000
boys and men. Pakistan Army officials tell us that President
Zia al Haq chose Jamia Fareedia's location for strategic
reasons: within 15 minutes, thousands of madrassah students
can take to the streets anywhere in Islamabad.


3. (C) General Zia al Haq was a leading patron of the Red
Mosque and was close to the mosque's late leader , Maulana
Abdullah. Throughout the 1980s, Abdullah used his authority
to encourage jihad against the Soviets in Afghanistan. In
the 1990s, the mosque was known to be sympathetic to al
Qaeda. Unknown assailants assassinated Maulana Abdullah
inside the mosque on October 7, 1998. Since then, Abdullah's
sons, Maulana Abdul Aziz and Maulana Abdul Rashid Ghazi, have
run the mosque and its associated madrassahs. According to
Embassy contacts, while Maulana Abdullah was relatively well
educated and could be progressive on many issues, his sons
lack their father's sophistication and nuance.


4. (C) After 9/11, the Red Mosque leadership officially
severed links with AQ, though journalists report the
brothers' sermons have continued to encourage sympathy for
Osama bin Laden. Both brothers reportedly have called for
jihad against America and are vocal in their support of the
Taliban. According to the press, the brothers were a driving
force behind a 2003 fatwa (religious decree) denying Muslim
burials to Pakistani army forces killed while fighting in
South Waziristan. The mosque also was a center of
anti-Western fervor during the 2006 Danish cartoon
demonstrations.

RECENT HEADLINES


5. (C) In mid-January, the Capital Development Authority
began demolishing mosques built without permits on public
land. On January 20, the Development Authority razed Amir
Hamza mosque, which was adjacent to the Red Mosque and to
Jamia Hafsa, the women's seminary. On January 27, dozens of
girls and women from Jamia Hafsa entered a public library
next to their madrassah and began a sit-in, demanding that
the Government not tear down any part of their madrassah,

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much of which is built illegally on land owned by the
Ministry of Education. (Note: As explained in paragraph
14, many women in the madrassah are orphans or widows; they
would have nowhere to go if the madrassah were torn down.
End Note.) The women later announced other demands,
including that the government legalize all 81 mosques the
Capital Development Authority had declared illegally built.
The women also called for the strict interpretation of Sharia
Law in Pakistan. Negotiators from the Ministry of Religion
eventually agreed to a compromise on the mosque destruction
question, but the women never officially left the library
(reftels). While the library is again open to the public,
the "sit-in" technically continues.


6. (C) Just as the library controversy dropped out of the
news, Jamia Hafsa was on the front pages again on March 27,
when a group of students broke into an alleged brothel near
the mosque and kidnapped three women and a six-month-old
baby. Police entered the seminary to demand the release of
the women and baby and to arrest some of the instigators.
Students took two police officers hostage. Rumors quickly
circulated via text messaging that 7,000 male students from
Jamia Fareedia madrassah were on their way to join the 3,000
female students inside Jamia Hafsa, leading the international
press to report that 10,000 extremist madrassah students were
protesting in downtown Islamabad. In reality, no more than
1,000 male students arrived at the madrassah that night.
Police negotiated the release of their colleagues, and two
days later the Jamia Hafsa students released the three
kidnapped women and the baby. Police have not arrested
anyone for the kidnapping.


7. (C) On April 6, the Jamia Hafsa administration announced
it would launch a Sharia Court inside the Red Mosque. It was
the third time since January the students had called for the
implementation of Sharia Law inside Islamabad. Journalists
reported male and female madrassah students patrolling
markets and harassing CD and DVD stores, at least for a few
hours one day. Embassy employees have not witnessed any such
patrols, but journalists tell us they did watch a group of
students burning a large number of CDs near a market.

THE RELIGIOUS COMMUNITY REACTS


8. (C) On April 7, President Musharraf told Codel Lowey
that the best way to deal with the problems at the Red Mosque
was to encourage religious leaders to educate the general
Pakistani public on errors in the Red Mosque teachings.
Religious scholars, including those known to be opposed to
President Musharraf, have been on television nightly since
late March criticizing the Red Mosque leadership and arguing
that the leadership's behavior is un-Islamic. In March,
Wafaqul Madaris, Pakistan,s largest seminary oversight
organization, revoked Jamia Hafsa,s accreditation, a move
designed to isolate the Mosque's leaders and to pressure them
to reform their teachings. Meanwhile, the religious parties
have distanced themselves from the Red Mosque. Liaquat
Baloch, Vice-President of the Jama'at Islami, recently
announced that no religious party endorsed the madrassah
students, actions and that no society would allow citizens
to take the law into their own hands.

THE END IS IN SIGHT. . . .AGAIN


9. (C) On April 9, PolOffs met with Chaudhry Shujaat
Hussain, president of the ruling PML-Q. Shujaat had met
with Maulana Aziz and Maulana Ghazi on April 7 to broker an
end to the tensions. Shujaat presented the brothers with the
government's list of demands, to which the brothers were
generally amenable. Shujaat believed the brothers were
worried they had lost control of the students and that they
had damaged their standing in the international madrassah

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community. The brothers, according to Shujaat, were eager to
end the crisis and quiet the madrassah.


10. (C) The Government's list of demands included:

--Remove all signs of militancy from the mosque, including
weapons and banners
--Vacate the library
--No students carrying swagger sticks (baton-like weapons)
--Only legitimate students in the madrassah
--Abolish the Sharia Court
--Stop policing markets
--Remove posters from neighborhood
--Remove the recently erected tent compound for male students
who were "guarding" the madrassah
--No interaction with the media


11. (C) On April 8, the madrassah presented Shujaat a list
of 62 counter demands. According to Shujaat, the list was
largely a face-saving measure, as the government already had
met most of the requirements. The outstanding demands were,
in Shujaat's opinion, not generally objectionable:

--Form a committee to decide all question of mosque
demolition. If mosques are demolished, the government should
build replacement mosques on other sites.
--Monitor television programming for immoral content;
increase the amount of religious programming on television.
(Shujaat said that, while the censorship was not possible,
the government would consider the religious programming
question.)
--Enforce laws against the sale of adult movies.
--Close brothels. Find alternative livelihoods for
prostitutes.


12. (C) Comment: For months, the conventional wisdom was
that sophisticated men were manipulating vulnerable women
inside Jamia Hafsa. The most recent list of demands from the
students, though, emphasizes action against pornography
rather than all videos and requests government help for
former prostitutes. The tone of the list may indicate that
the women have begun to assert themselves -- a hypothesis
Shujaat accepts. End Comment.


13. (C) Shujaat believes the controversy will be over in a
matter of days. On April 9, National Security Advisor Tariq
Aziz told Charge the situation would be quiet within two
weeks.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS


14. (C) Q: Why don't the girls' parents get them out of
that place?

A: Many of the girls and women living in Jamia Hafsa are
orphans, widows, divorcees, and other vulnerable women. They
entered the madrassah because, in a country with a limited
social safety net, they have nowhere else to go. Contacts
report that many women in Jamia Hafsa lost their families in
the October 2006 earthquake or have been forced to leave FATA
for economic or social reasons.


15. (C) Q: The press has printed photos of female students
in niqab (face covering) carrying rifles. Are the women
actually armed?

A: Possibly. Men from Jamia Fareedia have for months been
posted on top of the wall that surrounds the women's
madrassah. They are not visibly armed, but journalists tell
us they have seen weapons inside the complex, in the area
where the men are camping. A major proportion of the Jamia
Fareedia students are from the Frontier, where owning and

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carrying weapons is a way of life. Rifles are not uncommon
in Islamabad; they can be purchased in many markets.


16. (C) Q: Why aren't the police enforcing the writ of the
state? Shouldn't people be arrested for kidnapping -- or for
inciting violence?

A: President Musharraf told Codel Lowey April 7 that he had
reason to believe several scores of female students were
prepared to commit mass suicide if the police took action
against Jamia Hafsa or the Red Mosque. Additionally, it is
likely some of the students are armed. In a shoot-out with
police, female students might die. Besides being morally
unacceptable, Pakistani authorities worry that deaths of
female students could cause major street demonstrations
throughout Pakistan.


17. (C) Q: Are police going to arrest the brothers?

A: Both President Musharraf and Interior Minister Sherpao
have told us the Government will arrest Maulana Aziz and
Maulana Ghazi for incitement and other crimes. They have not
told us when they might arrest the men, nor how they would go
about it.


18. (C) Q: If the brothers have been inciting hatred for
years, why hasn't the government acted?

A: According to the press, at least one brother was arrested
in August 2004 for transporting rockets in the trunk of his
car. The Religious Affairs Minister eventually arranged his
release, in part to maintain inter-religious harmony. While
many government officials have reportedly called for the
brothers' arrest for years, others have argued that arresting
the men would destabilize the street. President Musharraf
told Codel Lowey on April 7 that attempting to enforce
moderation in Iran had backfired on the Shah. Musharraf
preferred to work toward transforming the mindset of the
population -- something he admitted would take time.


19. (C) Q: The Pakistani press is reporting that
talibanization has spread to Islamabad. Is that true?

A: The Red Mosque has been Islamist for decades. It has
long attracted students of a certain mindset; many of the
current students are from the Frontier, where talibanization
is a concern. The presence of those students in Islamabad,
though, does not mean Islamabad's citizens are becoming
talibanized.


20. (C) Q: So is this a big story?

Photos of veiled women posing with AK-47s sell newspapers.
Clearly, recent events at the Red Mosque raise serious
questions about how the State should enforce its writ. But
this is not a new question, particularly in relation to the
Red Mosque. Benazir Bhutto's Interior Minister, Aitzaz
Ahsan, once ordered the arrest of Maulana Abdullah; the
government released him not long after the arrest.


21. (C) Comment: As the President knows too well, he is
dealing with a situation for which there is no perfect
answer. Not acting leaves him open to criticism he is
encouraging talibanization; acting precipitously could
destabilize the street, not to mention lead to unnecessary
deaths. For now, he appears to be proceeding at a measured
pace, allowing the tide of public opinion to turn against the
brothers' actions before he eventually moves against them.
End Comment.
BODDE