Jaish militants hiding in Lal Masjid: Musharraf

TERROR THREAT: Contingent of police and paramilitary troops has been deployed near mosque.

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New Delhi: Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf is claiming that Jaish-e-Mohammed militants are hiding inside the Lal Masjid in Islamabad.

On Friday, Musharraf said that Jaish suicide bombers were indoctrinating people inside the Lal Masjid. A heavy contingent of police and paramilitary troops has been deployed near the mosque, prompting students inside to block the road leading to it.

The chief cleric of the Lal Masjid has threatened suicide attacks if the government uses force.

The mosque has long been known as the headquarters of conservative pro-Taliban radicals in Islamabad.

Musharraf said that security forces were ready to raid the Lal Masjid, or Red Mosque to end its vigilante campaign.

But he said female students from an adjoining seminary were ready to carry out suicide attacks to defend the complex. He said members of Jaish-e-Mohammed, a banned militant group with links to al-Qaeda, were also in the mosque.

''They are suicide bombers. They have explosives,'' Musharraf said at a journalism seminar.

''I am not a coward, but there is a problem. There is a very serious problem that there are committed people'' in the mosque, Musharraf said.

Observers cite the Red Mosque's continued defiance as a further example of how extremists are extending their influence across Pakistan.

Pro-Taliban militants hold sway in the tribal zone bordering Afghanistan and hardline clerics and their followers are flexing their muscles across much of the northwest.

Critics accuse Musharraf of manipulating militant groups via Pakistan's powerful intelligence agencies. However, his failure to prevent their rise has also exposed him to considerable domestic and international criticism.

On Friday, Musharraf said extremism was the ''gravest threat'' to Pakistan and that would address the nation next week on measures to combat it.

He didn't mention al-Qaeda, whose leaders are suspected of hiding along the rugged frontier with Afghanistan. But he said foreign militants were planning attacks abroad from Pakistani soil.

''We know that there are foreigners in the mountains'' near the border, Musharraf said. ''We have evidence that the foreigners are there and they are also planning attacks outside.

''If it happens, let me tell you there will be incalculable consequences for Pakistan. We have to stop it,'' Musharraf said.

(With agency inputs)