You're the Aziz, I'm the Cure

How sweet it is. Pakistan's newspaper Dawn is reporting 1100 students have surrendered as Pakistan's army surrounds Islamabad's militant "Lal Masjid" Red Mosque. Best part? Maulana Aziz, one of the two brothers leading this outfit, gets pinched sneaking out disguising himself in a burqua. The height and pot belly gave him away.

Special JYB salute to Pakistani constable "Maryam", who spotted the cross-dressing cleric:

A security official told Dawn that head constable Maryam was standing close to the outer gate observing all the women who were moving towards the parked buses when she got suspicious of the way two of the women were behaving. All other women were allowed to pass, but burqa-clad Maulana Aziz was stopped and Maryam surprised him by asking his name and he did not respond. It was soon revealed that behind the black burqa was the man, who for the last six months had been keeping the entire administration and the country in a state of panic.

It was ironic that a man who rarely got himself photographed was now making headlines with his image splashed on television channels showing him in an all-covering black burqa.

So embarrassing was the revelation for most radical and moderate Islamists that no one was prepared to justify the act. However, his younger brother and perhaps the more militant of the two, Maulana Abdul Rasheed Ghazi, remained defiant till the filing of this report and even expressed his annoyance over Maulana Aziz’s attempt to escape. (Some private TV channels reported late in the night that he had agreed to surrender).

But for most other people in Islamabad, and in other parts of the country, the incident was used to make fun of the militant clerics. Throughout the evening, jokes were doing the rounds, with people feeling a marked reduction in tension in the city.

There is stil a large contingent of students locked inside the mosque, and these may be the bitter-enders preparing for a siege. Plus, according to negotiators, several 5- to 8- year old children that Maulana Ghazi is keeping under his "protection". He sounds almost as brave as his brother.

Disruptions of these jihad-factories is always pleasant news, but this one is particularly important because of the precarious position of the Musharraf government these days. The Lal Masjid nut squad had openly defied Musharraf's authority and were setting up their own Taliban government across Islamabad. I'm glad Mush found the cojones to stare them down.

Now, on to the slavers of Muridke.

Previous red Mosque blogging on the JYB: here (with a great quote from the fabulous! Mullah Aziz), and here.