The operation against Lal Masjid, a mosque in the Pakistani capital of Islamabad, was conducted in a carefully planned way to minimize damage and casualties, said Pakistani Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz in an exclusive interview with Xinhua Thursday.
"You know, from day one, our strategy was minimum casualties, release of hostages, and securing the mosque and Jamia Hafsa," Aziz said.
He said that inside the red mosque and its affiliated Jamia Hafsa religious school for girls, the trained militants had weapons and the hardcore group of militants were keeping people including men, women and children as hostage.
"Until the end we tried to negotiate with them in all sincerity to find a way out, but it didn't work," Aziz said.
Holding documents containing latest information, the Pakistani prime minister said that about 1,150 people had managed to come out of the mosque since the beginning of the siege on July 3.
"76 bodies were recovered when troops entered the mosque (on July 10)," Aziz said.
"Some women and children were among them."
The death toll is 103, including 11 soldiers and security men, the 76 found in the mosque and those killed before the siege, according to Aziz.
"Now they are repairing the mosque," he said. "But it has not been decided how to deal with the religious school."
Talking about the series of suicide attacks on policemen and civilians following the operation, Aziz said that the government had confidence to have the situation under control.
"We have put the securities on high alert. We have a lot of people. And we are coordinating with the provinces and the provincial governments," he said.
"We have confidence that the situation will be fully under control," he said. "People in Pakistan want to see peace. Economy is growing and people want to have normal life."
On the government's policy about Madrassas and religious schools, Aziz said, "Madrassas are very good institutions where people can get a religious education. We support Madrassas. We thing they have a very important role to play in our society. But militancy is not good. It is against our faith of Islam. Islam is a religion of peace."
Source: Xinhua
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