First batch of students handed over to parents

Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz Sunday has once again asked the administration of Lal Masjid to immediately release the children, women and other hostages and surrender themselves before the law enforcing agencies.
He was talking to media here at Relief and Facilitation Centre set up at Sports Complex after handing over the first batch of 34 students of Lal Masjid, who escaped from mosque in the last couple of days.
The Prime Minister said the government wanted to resolve the Lal Masjid issue keeping in mind the strategy to avoid loss of precious lives, therefore giving maximum time to the people inside the mosque to come out and surrender before the law enforcing agencies.
He said the current stand-off at Lal Masjid would continue until the release of children and women kept hostage by the trained militants and extremists inside the mosque.
The Prime Minister demanded immediate release of women and children at Jamia Hafsa and said the detention of innocent people had restrained the government to take stringent action against the Madrassah squad. Shaukat Aziz said a large number of people are worried here, whose children and relatives are inside the Lal Masjid.
He said, "We want to protect the lives of women and children who have been made hostage by the extremists in Jamia Hafsa and are very concerned about their plight and the condition of their parents, who have come to Islamabad from different parts of the country to collect their children".
He urged the people inside the Lal Masjid to release all the hostages and then handover themselves to the law enforcing agencies. He assured that they will be dealt with according to the law.
The Prime Minister said all the women who came out of the Lal Masjid and were in the custody of the administration have been sent home with their parents or relatives.
Replying to a question, the Prime Minister said the government wanted to resolve the Lal Masjid issue without any delay and there is no intention to prolong it. He said the reports to get political milage by the government from the Lal Masjid issue are baseless and ridiculous adding that no government can afford the loss of lives of innocent people.
The Prime Minister said the government would ensure the continuity of religious and formal education of the students, who have been released from the Lal Majid and Jamia Hafsa.