Shaukat Aziz says all stakeholders tried to resolve Lal Masjid crisis

LONDON: Former Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz has stressed that all stakeholders including Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain made efforts to find a peaceful solution to the Lal Masjid crisis and their efforts meant that the government was able to save lives of more than a thousand people after they were helped to come out of the Lal Masjid as the standoff between the security forces and the people inside the mosque intensified.
Speaking to Jang Group of Newspapers here, the former premier said that a wrong impression had been created in the media which suggested as if he had blamed Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and others for giving the go ahead for the military operation.
Aziz said that “collective reconciliation efforts enabled safe exit of students and others from the Lal Masjid premises”. He said that also present during these efforts was a district and session judge “under the orders of the honourable Supreme Court of Pakistan who made appeals through a mega phone”.
Aziz said that media had quoted him wrongly after he submitted his evidence before the Lal Masjid Commission, set up by the Supreme Court of Pakistan to probe the events around the military operation. “I have already given my statement to the Lal Masjid Commission and that is now part of their record,” he told The News.
Shaukat Aziz paid tribute to Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and said that Chaudhry Sahib, along with others, made best efforts to resolve the issue. “All stakeholders worked with me till late at night to ensure that the maximum number of individuals could be evacuated from the mosque”. Shaukat Aziz added: “Our government tried its utmost to find ways to make the negotiations successful so that the standoff could end amicably and all issues resolved peacefully.”
Aziz said that the facts surrounding the Lal Masjid operation are very complicated and it’s important not to lose sight of the facts when reviewing the tragic events of that eventful operation.
On Monday, the former premier submitted evidence from Pakistan High Commission through a video link to the one-member Lal Masjid Commission, constituted by the Supreme Court of Pakistan under senior judge of the Federal Shariat Court, Justice Shehzad Al-Shaikh, to probe various aspects of the Lal Masjid operation during the Musharraf regime.President Pervez Musharraf had refused to appear before the Commission but Aziz said he had no issue giving evidence but he requested to do so from London.