Deposed cleric to hold conference on 2007 Lal Masjid operation

Another controversy is set to surface with deposed cleric of the Lal Masjid, Maulana Abdul Aziz, announcing that he will preside over a conference to mark the 10th anniversary of the army-cum-paramilitary operation on the mosque-seminary.

The Dawn quoted an aide of the former cleric, as saying that invitations would be forwarded to the president, prime minister, the director general of the ISI and to members of the federal cabinet along with leaders of like-minded political and religious parties to attend the conference.

The conference to be held on July 7 will be organised by the Shuhada Foundation at Lal Masjid. The objective of the conference is towards implementation of the 'Sharia' as also to work for a referendum on imposition of Islam across Pakistan, reports the Dawn.

It may be recalled that the Lal Masjid operation was launched in 2007 when militant students stationed inside killed a Pakistan Rangers personnel posted outside the mosque on July, 3, 2007.

After a siege of a few days, images were taken through drone cameras of people inside the mosque. Female students had established themselves at the Children Library under the banner of Jamia Hafsa.

The army commandos launched the operation on the mosque in the wee hours of July 10 and completed it on July 11.