Lal Masjid reopened for prayers on Thursday, three weeks after it was battered by fierce clashes between security forces and militants in which scores of people were killed. This is said by Minister for Religious Affairs Ejaz-ul-Haq after attending the first prayers in the mosque since the assault.
"We hope that such tragic incidents do not recur in our country," he said. Security forces laid siege to the mosque complex on July 3, before launching a full-scale assault a week later after followers of clerics refused to surrender. The government said 102 people were killed in fighting when security forces stormed the complex, which also houses a madrassa, or islamic school, for women.
The mosque was known as Lal Masjid for its red bricks, the complex will emerge from the renovation painted cream and white. The mosque's walls, peppered with bullet holes, have been repaired while the battle-scarred women's madrassa was razed because it was structurally unsafe, according to the government.
Big cranes were being used to remove rubble and tents were erected in the mosque courtyard for mass midday prayers on Friday. However, bullet scars on trees in and around the mosque and a gutted building of the Ministry of Environment across from the complex were stark reminders of the fierce battles fought in the centre of the capital.
Lal Masjid, built in the 1960s during the military rule of Minister Haq's father, General Mohammad Zia-ul-Haq, in the 1980s when Muslim fighters from all over the world flocked to Pakistan to fight the Soviet invasion of neighbouring Afghanistan.
Haq said the government had promised before the assault that it would rebuild the demolished mosques, and it would abide by its commitment. "I want to tell religious scholars and clerics that this government respects mosques and madrassas," he said.