DPA
Islamabad
A decision by an Islamic seminary for women to name its library after former Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden has caused a controversy in Pakistan’s capital.
Maulana Abdul Aziz, of the Red Mosque, known for its alleged links to militant groups, renamed the school’s existing library “Maktbah Usama bin Laden Shaheed,” Urdu for
“Osama bin Laden, the martyr.”
“Yes, it is true we named the library after shaheed (the martyr) Osama,” Aziz said, adding that the main objective of the initiative was to show “respect” for bin Laden.
“He is our hero, and we do not care if the world calls him a
terrorist,” the cleric said.
The library is situated in the centre of Islamabad, about half a kilometre from the headquarters of Pakistan’s intelligence agency, which has been accused of protecting the former Al Qaeda chief before he was killed by the US military in 2011
during a raid in Pakistan.
Commentators have referred to the renaming of the library as inappropriate and have branded it an embarrassment for the government and its security institutions, which have come under fire for failing to curb the activities of extremist groups.
“It is a huge embarrassment,” security expert Hasan Askari Rizvi said. “It shows that the government is confused, and it does not have a clear policy towards the groups who cherish Al Qaeda ideology.”
“It also shows that the government has forgotten the Red Mosque incident and is ready to tolerate the extremist mindset,” he said.
In 2007, Pakistani troops stormed the mosque, where militant students were holding hundreds of people hostage.
At the time, Aziz, the chief cleric at the mosque, had tried to escape wearing a black veil but was arrested. His brother Abdul Rasheed Ghazi was killed.
Aziz faced 27 criminal cases over the deadly incident with the charges against him including murder, terrorism and the possession of illegal weapons. He was acquitted of all charges.
Muhammad Iqbal, director of the Capital Development Authority, which provides municipal services in Islamabad, said some parts of the seminary had been built illegally.
“The issue is not just the library but the entire Jamia Hafsa seminary as both have been built illegally on government land,” Iqbal said. “I have held several rounds of talks with Maulana Aziz to wind up the seminary and library, but he has refused.”
Muneeb ur Rehman, a moderate cleric, said Aziz’s ability to get away with naming the library after bin Laden and the fact that he has not been held accountable for illegal activities are examples of the government’s leniency towards
militants.
“The moderate forces are slowly losing ground,” he said. “The government has failed to give a comprehensive strategy to deal with (such) people.”
Rizvi said the library naming was linked to a wider problem of societal radicalisation in
Pakistan.
“The government is weak,” he said. “I doubt it can deal with the library issue when bombings and targeted killings go
unnoticed.”
