ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, June 23, 2007
Women Kidnapped From Alleged Brothel
Radical Students Held Seven Chinese, Two Others Hostage, Saying Their Business Violated Islamic Law
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Abdul Rashid Ghazi, one of two brothers who head the Red Mosque, stands in front of a room of the Jamia Hafsa seminary in Islamabad where nine people, including six Chinese women, were held after being kidnapped from an alleged brothel, June 23, 2007. (Getty Images/Farooq Naeem)
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Hardline Islamists on Saturday released six Chinese women and a Chinese man after keeping them hostage overnight on the charge that they were running a brothel in Islamabad, the Pakistani capital.
Dozens of students had seized nine people (including two Pakistanis) from a massage parlor in an upscale neighborhood of Islamabad shortly after midnight, police official Mohammed Naeem said.
Maulana Mohammed Ishaq, a cleric at the city's radical Red Mosque, said the nine had been brought to the mosque to teach them not to indulge in "anti-social activities."
For women to massage men was in any case "not allowed according to the values of Islam," Ghazi said.
Abdul Rashid Ghazi, one of two brothers who run the mosque, said foreigners "involve our youth in sex activity in the cover of massage."
The Interior Ministry said the abduction was a "shocking and unlawful act."
The case highlights increasing determination on the part of Islamists who occupied Islamabad's main municipal library in January and began testing the government's patience through highly provocative actions.
The Islamists have vowed to establish Islamic courts to hand down punishments in compliance with "shariah" (Islamic jurisprudence) and have threatened to establish squads to clamp down hard on vice and promote virtue.
Images of hundreds of Islamist women clad in burqa (head-to-toe black dress) have become a familiar sight for Pakistani newspaper readers and TV viewers. These women who are students of an Islamic madrassah (religious school) adjoining the municipal library, are pressing the government to rebuild mosques which were demolished in Islamabad for being built on illegally-occupied government land.
One of Islamabad's main mosques, known as the Red ("Lal") Mosque which also adjoins the municipal library, has additionally become a center for frequent issuance of tough calls seeking the imposition of Islamic norms. Maulana Abdul Aziz, the main preacher of the Red Mosque, in April stunned members of the western diplomatic community based in Pakistan when he publicly threatened to support suicide attacks if the government forced the Islamists out of the mosque, the women's madrassah and the municipal library.
Speaking to a crowd of about 3,000 worshippers following a Friday weekly sermon, Mr Aziz said, "The government has been saying that an operation against us is the last option. I want to tell the government that jihad (holy war) and suicide attacks are our last option."
On Saturday, Pakistani government officials and diplomats warned that the abduction of the Chinese who were kidnapped from a massage center that they ran in a posh neighborhood of Islamabad, demonstrated the Islamists were becoming increasingly bold.
Pakistan considers China as its most trusted ally and friend. China has supplied Pakistan with military hardware even when the south Asian country was under sanctions by the United States in the 1990s for its work to develop its nuclear bomb project.
"This action would bring some very adverse publicity for Pakistan in China," said a senior Pakistani official who spoke to CBS News on the condition that he would not be named. "The Islamists are actually delivering on some of their threats and the question for the government is, how long do you permit them to continue like this?"
A senior Western diplomat who also spoke to CBS News on the condition of anonymity said, "The position of the Pakistani government is being compromised every day. Each day this kind of defiance continues, there is bound to be the view that the government is helpless."
The premises of the mosque, the women's madrassah and the municipal library are located in central Islamabad, surrounded by a densely populated commercial neighbourhood known as Aabpara on one side and a residential neighborhood on the other. Pakistani officials said an operation conducted either by the paramilitary forces or the police will inevitably lead to high numbers of casualties, a fact that has restrained the government.
"There is bound to be lots of human collateral damage" in the event of such an operation, said the Pakistani official who spoke to CBS News.
© MMVII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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See all 25 CommentsIt's so unfortunate that this guy was elected the first time.
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CHENEY is the most selfish person in the Administration.
When he couldn't get OIL from Iraq like he wanted, his company purchased Oil in very cheap price from KUWAIT an dsold it to US military in an EXTREMELY HIGH PRICE(stole our tax money).
Now when it's time to pay tax to the government, he transferred his Company and CEO to Dubai ,UAE.
It's so frustrating to see that people like Singinrick believe that these corrupt guys are on a god's mission.
It's not Tezas, make it Texas
Do you have any idea why Halliburton transferred it's head office from Tezas to Dubai, UAE.
I know one reason is TAX, since UAE is a tax free and duty free country.
There is incredible co-operation between UAE and BUSH Administration.
That makes me a little worry because when Clinton had planned to attack OSAMA BEEN-FORGOTTEN, he coudn't since OSAMA was having lunch with the UAE Royal family members.
Bush has got us on a course to the New World Order, Neo-cons have been at it for 60 years.... North American Union is the sellout of our National Assets, our National Security & the very end of the United States of America.
j
It's so unfortunate that this guy was elected twice.
First time by fraud and 2nd time by the help of OSAMA BEEN-FORGOTTEN who released a video on Election eve mocking BUSH. When the worst enemy of USA was mocking BUSH,people of USA were supposed to vote BUSH which was in the best interest of OSAMA BEEN-FORGOTTEN.
Nobody ever helped ISLAMIC RADICALISM like MULLAH BUSH.
Posted by radiob at 06:23 PM : Jun 23, 2007
hmmagain Is doing his/her best to seem to be inscrutably vague and intelligently mysterious. I would have reversed the latter two but something about the verbage the hmmagain persona exhibits, gives evidence of shifts in POV base origins. This leads to a possible series of authors under one name. I have seen several instances multiple posters under one name although the majority are quite transparent. This apparent need to titillate the curiousity bump of the self-appointed gurus of all knowledge, is but a form of self-gratification. In otherwords, they get off by pointing their fingers in different directions at the same time and confusing the issue. Ambiguity is the watchword.
I never make a statement without providing valid reasons to prove my points.
I love to hate the enenmeis of United States , freedom and Democracy whether they are RADICAL MUSLIMS or their RADICAL CHRISTIAN TALIBAN BROTHERS.
Why don't you tell news media to stop covering war every day. Isn't that same old, same old every day.
Just like Iraq war is a continuos thing every day, involvement of PSYCHOSIS "CHRISTIANITY" is also a daily thing in United States.
Don't tell me to stop hating the enemies of United States, Freedom and Democracy who were taught by ISLAMIC RADICAL "JESUS" to love thier enemies.
The whole world has seen their love in the form of killing of Hundred of thousands of innocent civilians to help the 2nd coming of ISLAMIC RADICAL "JESUS".
You should not use this comment section to constantly post your messages of hate.....
Besides it's always the same old same old, never any new material!
Posted by Geneius1
I am not sure where hmmagain is from but I do not believe he is from Pakistan or the region. It requires some thought to understand his/hers messages but the general theme is to feed the world and clothe the world.
Posted by gmond
Why? Have you seen their on air reporters?
They are all over 80 years old and haven't had any in 40 years.
I'm sure they have inserted their "guidelines"
I'm sure if you ask them they will tell you it is a dirty word.
Great, now they call it "military hardware"
Apparently this is the #1 chineezze export to all countries.
Guess their proud of it.
So sad.
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