Pakistan shuts the Islamist radio station

Pakistani authorities have shut down an illegal FM radio station set up by pro-Taleban clerics in Islamabad during growing concern about the spread of Islamist influence.
President Pervez Musharraf, an important ally in the US-led war on terrorism, has long warned against the spread of what he calls extremism although critics say his government has done little to tackle religious hardliners.
Concern about the spread of militancy, or Talebanisation, intensified this week as militants battled police in a previously peaceful northwestern town and hardline students of an Islamabad madrassa launched a Taleban-style drive against vice.
Burqa-clad female students of the madrassa abducted three women on Tuesday after accusing them of running a brothel. The women were later released but one said they had been tortured into confessing.
Islamabad’s Lal Masjid, or Red Mosque, and its religious school, or madrassa, are well known for their pro-Taleban and anti-US and anti-government stand.
Earlier in the week, the students roamed through several Islamabad markets, urging music shop owners to stop selling discs. The Taleban banned music in Afghanistan before they were driven from power by US-led forces in 2001.
The Taleban sprang from Pakistani madrassas, near the Afghan border, in 1990s and their influence quickly spread. The militant movement took control of much of Afghanistan in 1996 and they imposed severe restrictions on women, banned all music, television, movies and virtually eradicated the drugs trade.
As part of their campaign against vice, the students in Islamabad and their hardline clerics set up an FM radio station on Wednesday to propagate their strict version of Islam. Authorities reacted quickly to shut it down.
“We took action as soon as the issue was brought to our notice. We have stopped the transmissions,” a spokesman for the government’s electronic media regulator said.
He declined to say how the transmissions had been stopped but said further action would be taken if warranted.
The madrassa students have been at odds with city authorities for months over government efforts to demolish mosques illegally built on state land.
Women students occupied a library next to their mosque in January as part of their campaign against the authorities, which soon abandoned their efforts against encroachment.
The students are still occupying the library, demanding several demolished mosques be rebuilt.
Their mosque compound has taken on the air of a rebel camp with young men with sticks posted at gates and at look-out points along its banner-strewn walls.
Courtesy: TPQ