19 April 2009

Al-Jazeera -- The former head cleric of Pakistan's Red Mosque, the scene of a standoff between the government and Islamic students in 2007, has called for Islamic law to be imposed in Pakistan and the wider world.

Maulana Abdul Aziz returned to the Red Mosque in Islamabad for prayers on Friday, a day after his almost two-year house arrest was lifted.

About 3,000 of his supporters attended, reports said.

"God willing, our sacrifices will not go in vain and the religion of Islam will be implemented not only in Pakistan but all over the world," Aziz told followers who crammed into the mosque and on the street outside.

"We are peaceful people but if our way is blocked then you have witnessed the scenes in Swat and in Fata," he said, referring to the ethnic Pashtun Federally Administered Tribal Areas on the Afghan border.

Released on bail

On Wednesday, the Supreme Court ordered Aziz's release from house arrest on 200,000 rupees ($2,500) bail.

His lawyer said that 27 cases had been filed against him and bail had been granted earlier in 25 of them while one case had been dropped.

The Red Mosque, in the heart of the Pakistani capital, made international headlines in July 2007 when more commandos stormed the complex after a week-long standoff with Aziz's followers.

More than 100 people were killed in the ensuing violence.

'Sacrifices'

The Mosque had been under surveillance after students occupied a neighbouring building and mounted a self-proclaimed anti-vice drive that included the kidnapping of seven Chinese nationals who the students claimed were prostitutes.

Aziz was caught trying to slip out of the mosque dressed in a woman's burqa during the 2007 standoff with security forces, days before the commando assault on the Mosque.

His brother, Abdul Rashid Ghazi, also a cleric at the mosque, was killed in the assault.

Those in favour of the enforcement of a strict version of sharia, or Islamic law, in Pakistan received a boost recently after the government agreed to the imposition of a strict interpretation of sharia in the northwestern Swat valley as part of a deal to halt violence in the area.

Speaking at prayers on Friday, Aziz said: "The implementation of Islam being seen in Swat, the implementation of Islam being seen in the tribal areas today, is because of the sacrifices of the Red Mosque. We have to speed up our struggle."