Pakistan frees 152 mosque students

PAKISTAN: Pakistan's government released the first batch of 152 male Islamic students who were detained after leaving a mosque that is under siege in the capital Islamabad.

The students aged between 15 and 18 had been detained in Adiala jail in Rawalpindi since they fled the Red Mosque, where Al-Qaeda-linked militants have been holding out for six days against government forces.

The parents and relatives of 20 of the boys arrived at a meeting point set up in a sports complex in Islamabad to receive their children.

A 15-year-old student who gave his name as Ismail and said he had escaped on Wednesday said the mosque's chief cleric, Abdul Aziz, had urged students inside the mosque to "seek help from God."

Aziz was caught fleeing the mosque in a woman's burqa late Wednesday. Another student, Junaid Ali, 15, said armed men had guarded the compound at at all times but he had seen no foreign militants there. The government says several are in the compound.

Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, who visited the centre, said "all these students are going back to their homes and we hope they get a good education in future."

Aziz reiterated the government's call for the militants inside the mosque to release stranded men, women and children allegedly being held inside as human shields and surrender to the authorities.

Islamabad, Monday, AFP