500 killed and over 600 injured in Lal Mosque operation

Saeed Minhas

 

Islamabad: More than 500 dead bodies of female and male students have been recovered from the debris of the Lal Mosque in the second phase of Operation Silence, claimed some independent sources. However, ISPR spokesperson claims that final figure could not be ascertained but estimates the death toll between 150 and 250.

Independent sources, not wished to be quoted said that almost 600 students were injured during the final assault of the commandos on the mosque compound on Tuesday. The injured are kept at various city hospitals while some have also been moved to nearby cities as all the injured are presumed arrested and charged for taking up arms against the state.

Owing to shortage of morgues in twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad, it is learnt that many of the dead bodies, with the exception of army men, were shifted to nearby cities of Kharian, Jehlum and Gujrat. Identification of many of the killed during the combat remain unclear because the bodies were removed in bulk soon-after the operation and were dispatched in all directions using the military vehicles, informed the sources. Sources further revealed that dead body of Ghazi Rashid’s mother could not yet be identified, a fact also endorsed by both ISPR and Interior ministry.

However, sources say that since lots of bodies were removed in bulk quantities from the scene in the afternoon on Tuesday, army or civil administration might need the assistance of a family member to identify her. Since its too messy and sketchy at present, taking the relative through the morgues might not be advisable at this time, informed inside sources.

Media was not allowed to visit the mosque owing to threat from some holed up militants inside the mosque as sound of explosions continued to rip the air throughout the day. Army spokesman, Arsahd Waheed further informed the media that 10 security personals lost their lives during the operation while 33 were admitted to army hospitals with bullet injuries. He insisted that the operation against militants in Lal Masjid was still on as three more militants were killed and five others were arrested on Wednesday while fighting with the Pak Army commandos.

Elaborating the further he said that the first phase of the operation was focused on getting the militants cleared of the mosque complex. The second phase of the operation to clean Lal Masjid and Jamia Hafsa was underway. He said that at present army personals were clearing the basements of the Jamia Hafsa, where landmines or booby-traps have been planted by the militant students.
To the dismay of dozens of journalists from national and international media, the military spokesman said that visit of the media persons, as intimated earlier in the day, would not be possible on Wednesday but hoped that a visit of media men to the mosque complex would be arranged tomorrow.
To a query he said that holes in the walls of the mosque were made during the operation to get release of hostage children and women. He denied any incident of suicide bombing in the country after the operation, saying that the law and order situation is under control.

Earlier, funeral for nine security personals killed during the Operation Silence was offered at Chaklala airbase in Rawalpindi where the attending President in the presence of high command of the Pakistan army vowed to root out extremism from the country.

 

Supreme Court Bar Association in collaboration with the Pakistan federal Union of Journalists and other prominent members of the civil society has announced to set up a fact finding commission on Lal Mosque.

First meeting of the commission was held at the Supreme Court Bar Association’s office in Islamabad where members worked the terms of refernmce of the commission. The commission, as informed by President of PFUJ Huma Ali would work to find out the exact number of causalities during the Lal Mosque Operation besides figuring out any missing persons in action. The mission is supposed to be an impartial, independent mission aimed at finding the facts and nothing else, he added. The mission would soon issue its contact details so that anybody looking for a missing person should contact the mission, he said. He further said that efforts would be made to collect all possible data pertaining to the Operation Silence from all possible sources and compile it for refernce purposes.

The meeting was attended among others by representatives of SCBA, various bar associations, Huma Ali, President PFUJ, Afzal Butt, president RIUJ, Saeed Minhas, editor The Frontier Post.