Moscow supports Musharraf
Dr. Abdul Ruff Colachal, Freelancer, India
Perhaps, by way of comparing the Islamabad mosque events with those in Russia where hundreds of innocent civilians, including children, were killed at Moscow Theatre(2002) and Beslan School (2004) in military operations to "obtain peace" at any cost, the Russian government has appreciated the recent Lal Masjid "Operation Silence" in Islamabad, where several persons were killed . Russia probably thinks that its military operation against the Chechens is fully justified. The RIA Novosti on July 13 was all praise for Musharraf's timely action to avert further disaster. The statement does not however dwell upon the circumstances that led to Lal Masjid killings. The hostages issue at Beslan and Moscow Theatre were different from Islamabad Lal Masjid crisis and it was not terrorism that was put down there with force, but an anarchical situation.The Pakistani Army began withdrawing on 12 July from Islamabad after completing a 36-hour operation to retake the mosque, seized and held by Islamic radicals for a week. About 1,000 Taliban-inspired students barricaded themselves in the mosque, a hotbed of Islamic radicalism in Pakistan's capital, July 3, following clashes with government troops. The students had been demanding the Pakistani authorities promote stricter Islamic values in the country. "Russia resolutely condemned terror in all forms and practices", said Mikhail Kamynin, a Russian foreign ministry spokesperson, adding that the use of troops against Islamic militants at the mosque was a forced measure, designed to save innocent lives. "We expect Pakistan's political and religious leaders to display solidarity in the face of the challenge issued by terrorists," he said in a statement posted on the ministry's official website. Russia hopes that Pakistan's political and religious groups will pool their efforts in the fight against terrorism following the incident. Pakistani officials said a few days later that the students were holding women and children inside the mosque. About 1,200 people left the building July 5 and several more, including two female students, surrendered at dawn the following day. Officially, 73 Islamic radicals and 10 servicemen died during the army assault that began Tuesday. The Frontier Post newspaper cited anonymous sources as saying that over 500 students died, including many women. The authorities denied the figure, and also dismissed a statement by Abdul Rashid Ghazi, the radical spiritual leader, who was killed during the fighting, that extremists had buried dozens of people during the siege. Moscow's praise for Pakistan's handling of the mosque stand-off cannot however justify the Kremlin 's military operation to kill all the school children at Beslan, aimed mainly at discrediting the freedom fighting Chechens internationally.
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