Opposition leaders have condemned the government for mishandling the Lal Masjid issue. PML(N) leaders, Memona Hashmi, MNA, Rana MNA Mehmood-ul-Hassan, MPA Nafees Ahmed, Allah Nawaz Durrani, ex-Senator Malik Rafiq Rajwana, and Advocate Bilal Butt said the Lal Masjid issue had been mishandled by the government.
They said the issue could have been resolved through dialogue, but the present regime wanted to tarnish Pakistan's image in the world and took wrong steps. They said the present government wanted to defame the seminaries, institutions and clerics by employing such tactics.
PML-N Punjab President Sardar Zulfiqar Khosa said the people would resist the government if it tried to impose emergency in the country on the basis of the Lal Masjid incident. PPP Punjab President Shah Mehmood Qureshi said the government had aggravated the situation by delaying an operation against the Lal Masjid administration.
He said it was the government's responsibility to protect the lives and property of the people but he failed to understand whether the action was started by the government or the Lal Masjid administration. PPP Multan President Khurshid Ahmed Khan criticised the government for starting an operation against Lal Masjid.
Jamaat-i-Islami leader Liaquat Baloch, Rao Zafar Iqbal and Khurshid Kanju said that all religious parties had rejected the tactics of the Lal Masjid administration, but the issue should have been resolved through dialogue. They appealed to the government and the Lal Masjid administration to resolve the matter peacefully.
Liaquat Baloch denounced the government for Lal Masjid operation. He urged people to react to the government's 'inhuman action against religious forces'. He warned religious forces would offer strong resistance if the government cracked down on any mosque and madrassa in future.
Khurshid Abbas Gardezi Amir of JUI-F said that operation against Lal Masjid and Jamia Hafsa was the continuation of President General Pervez Musharraf's 'tyrannical polices' pursued in Fata and Balochistan. He said the Lal Masjid issue had been mishandled. PPP spokesperson Farhatullah Babar said he would not comment on the Lal Masjid crisis.