Lal Masjid protesters vow to stand firm in face of ‘TTP threats’

ISLAMABAD-

Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan’s Jamaatul Ahrar group has threatened the protesters outside Islamabad’s Lal Masjid in a phone call to one of the protest’s organisers Jibran Nasir.

Nasir, a lawyer and political activist, has received a call from a man claiming to be the terrorist group’s spokesperson Ehsanullah Ehsan. The caller warned Nasir to end the protest,take back the police case against Lal Masjid cleric Abdul Aziz and stop harrassing him or else, the caller added, the protesters will be putting themselves in danger.

The caller added that the group should not be considered weak.

Local daily Express Tribune’s web desk shared the recording of the telephone call while adding that media contacts familiar with the TTP spokesperson have verified the call.

Audio link to the threat we received from Ehsanullah Ehsan (Jamaat-ul-Ahrar) and our response. #NoFear #NeverForget https://t.co/IPawoav9P6

— Jibran Nasir (@MJibranNasir) December 22, 2014

Nasir told the caller that the protest would continue until the mosque starts to preach peace. The activist took to Twitter to express his firm stance to stand with the cause.

Ehsanullah Ehsan Jammat-ul-Ahrar called today to ask us to back off from #ArrestAbdulAziz. Weve told him we are standing firm #NeverForget — Jibran Nasir (@MJibranNasir) December 22, 2014

The civil society is not afraid. We r not here to demolish mosques. We r here to save them and reclaim them for them to preach love & peace — Jibran Nasir (@MJibranNasir) December 22, 2014

The civil society members also shared a video on Facebook in reply to the threat.

Infuriated over Aziz’s denial to condemn the bloodbath in Army Public School in Peshawar on December 16, a large number of civil society activists staged a demonstration outside the infamous Lal Masjid on Thursday last week.

The entire civil society seemed to be enraged at the cleric’s hardline position and during the episode, some protesters even tried to storm the Lal Masjid.

Protesters carrying banners against the inhumane attack in Peshawar, chanted slogans against the cleric for being a ‘Taliban apologetic’.

An  FIR was also registered against Aziz in Islamabad for his controversial statement.

Giving in to the outcry from the civil society, Lal Masjid cleric Abdul Aziz apologised Sunday for failing to “unconditionally condemn” the Peshawar school massacre carried out by Tehreek-e-Taliban (TTP).