Amid mounting pressure from Pakistani security forces, the captured leader of the besieged Lal Masjid on Thursday asked his followers to either surrender or escape, as another 150 students of the madrassas run by the mosque gave themselves up after soldiers detonated a series of loud explosives.
Maulana Abdul Aziz, the head of the Lal Masjid who was arrested on Wednesday, asked the students inside the mosque and seminary complex either to surrender or escape under the given situation.
"It would be wrong to stay inside as I have seen massive deployment of security forces surrounding the mosque and seminary," Aziz said in an interview to the state-run TV.
Aziz's younger brother Abdul Rashid Ghazi, who is leading the remaining students inside the complex, has refused to surrender unconditionally.
A red alert has been sounded among security agencies in and around the Lal Masjid to look for Ghazi as, according to intelligence agencies, he may try to escape wearing a veil like his brother or in any other disguise.
Security forces made announcement over loudspeakers to the students to lay down arms and surrender before authorities to avoid bloodshed.
Meanwhile, Religious Affairs Minister Ijaz-ul Haq said that up to 30 'armed terrorists' were preventing students from surrendering. He said that these militants were bodyguards of the head cleric Aziz.
"There are up to 30 armed terrorists holed up inside the mosque who do not want to come out and are preventing others from leaving the premises," he told state television.
Images: Besieged Lal Masjid still defiant
All about the Lal Masjid stand-off