Loud explosions and gunfire rocked the Lal Masjid on Friday as the Pakistan government rejected all conditions for surrender put forward by radical cleric Abdul Rashid Ghazi, holed up inside the besieged mosque, including the demand for a safe passage of the kind provided by India to Pakistani militants during Kargil war.
The bloody stand-off between security forces and the militants, headed by Ghazi, entered the fourth day on Friday as government spurned all kinds of demands by Ghazi, including a Kargil type safe passage provided by India to Pakistani militants during the war.
Ghazi, who was being deserted by droves of 'militant students' around him who were surrendering to troops waiting outside, made several offers to give up.
The cleric said he feared that the government would start victimisation and that was why he wanted a safe passage. He said he was not demanding anything unprecedented.
"India had given a safe passage to Mujahideen to save innocent lives," he said.
In return for the safe passage, he offered to give up claims on the Masjid and the two madrasas controlled by them.
A government spokesman, however, rejected any safe passage to him and his companions.
"Ghazi was involved in different cases and he could not be allowed to go," Retd Brig Javed Iqbal Cheema told the media late Thursday night.
Meanwhile, heavy gunfire and blasts erupted again at the mosque in Pakistani capital early on Friday, as armoured personnel carriers moved near the building.
Earlier, Ghazi had said he would like to surrender provided he was permitted to stay temporarily in the masjid complex to attend to his ailing mother.
Appearing on different TV channels, Ghazi kept shifting his stand and remained defiant while the government rejected all his demands and stepped up pressure by intensifying deployment and firing on the masjid.
Speculation of a storming operation which was in the air for the past two days has not materialised till now.
Media reports said on Friday that President Pervez Musahrraf has approved an amnesty plan for the militants holed up inside the mosque if they surrender.
The government would withdraw all the cases against them, including Ghazi if they surrender, the Daily Times reported.
Till early Friday morning there were moves by the Pakistan military to get close to the masjid as some armoured personnel carriers moved towards the mosque but no operation has not taken place as the militants resorted to heavy firing from their well entrenched bunkers within.
Meanwhile, estimates vary about how many militants were present.
While there were allegations by several surrendering militant students that the cleric and his associates kept a number of women locked up in different rooms, Ghazi denied the allegations saying that those who wanted to go are welcome to leave.
Over 1,400 have surrendered during the past three days but still estimates vary about the numbers of militants present with estimates putting over 50 to few hundred.
In his interview to media, Ghazi said 1,800 to 1,900 'students' are still present in the Lal Masjid and Jamia Hafsa.
Ghazi said they did not bar any students from leaving the premises and all those still present in the Lal Masjid and Jamia Hafsa were there at their own free will.
He also said that mediapersons should be allowed to visit Lal Masjid and Jamia Hafsa so that a clear picture is shown to the people.
The cleric said he was ready to hand over control of Jamia Hafsa and Jamia Faridia to the Wafaq-ul-Madaris and that of Lal Masjid to the Auqaf Department.
He said he and his colleagues were not criminals and should not be treated by the government as such, adding no member of any banned outfit is with them, as is being propagated by the government.
Offering to verify the credentials of all those present in Lal Masjid and Jamia Hafsa, the two madrasas controlled by him and his brother, he said it appears that the government wanted to commit a massacre despite the fact that 'we have agreed to leave everything including Lal Masjid, Jamia Hafsa, Jamia Farida and all the weapons'.
State Minister for Information Tariq Azeem, said Maulana Ghazi should come out and face the law.
