I will rebuild Jamia Hafsa: Abdul Aziz

The Lal Masjid controversy may once again hit the capital as Abdul Aziz, the firebrand chief cleric of the mosque, announced on Friday that he would lay the foundation stone of Jamia Hafsa next Friday in defiance of the resistance shown by the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) administration. “If the local administration is not ready to reconstruct Jamia Hafsa, we will take the initiative on our own,” said Aziz. “I will lay the foundation stone of Jamia Hafza next Friday.”
The previous foundation stone of the seminary was laid down by Abdul Aziz’s father Maulana Abdullah in 1992. Jamia Hafsa was built on land said to be owned by the madrassa’s administration, and was affiliated with the adjoining Lal Masjid.
But the oldest mosque of the capital become controversial in April 2007 when Abdul Aziz announced that a ‘qazi’ court composed of 10 Lal Masjid muftis would thenceforth enforce Shariah law over the area under its control, and threatened suicide attacks by his followers in the country in the event of government intervention.
Upon pressure from the government at the time, the governing body of seminaries suspended the membership of Jamia Hafsa – a seminary for girls and women – as its rebel attitude continued. Several incidents such as the abduction of Chinese nationals, policemen and alleged brothel owners by the seminary’s students later resulted in the bloody Lal Masjid operation by the security forces, which cleared the mosque and the madrassa compound, the occupants of which had taken up arms.
Abdul Aziz was caught fleeing disguised as a woman in a burqa during the siege of the mosque complex. His brother, Abdul Rasheed Ghazi, refused all peace overtures and negotiation efforts and continued to fight, and was killed when commandos stormed the complex. Jamia Hafsa was destroyed after the operation.
Later, a petition seeking the reconstruction of Jamia Hafsa was filed in the Supreme Court and the court ordered the authorities concerned to reconstruct the seminary. Aziz alleged that despite court orders, the local administration seemed reluctant to reconstruct the madrassa. “NATO supply has been closed, the dictator is no more in power, everything has been changing in the country so I also decided to reconstruct Jamia Hafsa because the students need it,” Aziz said. Lal Masjid’s deputy cleric Amir Siddique told Pakistan Today that the ICT administration had its reservations with the reconstruction of Jamia Hafsa, so it was trying to stop it.
A senior ICT official, seeking anonymity, told Pakistan Today that some solid deals were required for the reconstruction of Jamia Hafsa for which Abdul Aziz had not consulted the administration. “We are not defying any court orders, we are ready to obey court orders but no one has forgotten history,” he added.