ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s former military ruler Gen Pervez Musharraf has denied having ordered the Lal Masjid operation in 2007, even as a fresh petition was filed in a court here seeking action against him under the blasphemy law.
A three-member joint investigation team (JIT), whose two members had earlier refused to be part of it, interrogated 70-year-old Musharraf Monday at his Chak Shahzad farmhouse which has been declared a sub-jail.
He was interrogated in connection with a double-murder case registered by Aabpara police on a complaint of Haroon Rasheed, son of Abdul Rasheed Ghazi, deputy chief of Lal Masjid, who was killed in the 2007 operation at the mosque.
Haroon has alleged that Musharraf issued the order for the operation in which his father and grandmother Sabiha Khatoon were killed.
The former president told the JIT that the operation had been ordered by the then elected government and he had nothing to do with it, Dawn daily reported quoting sources.
“I was wrongly implicated. I did not issue any written order regarding the operation,” Musharraf was quoted as saying by the sources.
He said the then capital administration had called the army for help, which led to the operation. He also denied other allegations leveled against him in the FIR.
Over 100 people, including 10 army personnel and a Rangers man, were killed during the operation.
Meanwhile, a Pakistani lawyer has filed a petition in the Islamabad High Court seeking action against the former president under the controversial blasphemy law for allegedly desecrating religious books during the Lal Masjid operation.
In his petition, advocate Tariq Asad, who is the counsel for the newly established Shuhada Foundation of Pakistan Trust, contended that Musharraf was responsible for launching the operation during which “not only a large number of civilians were killed but also copies of the holy Qur’an, religious books and research materials were destroyed.”
Musharraf denies any role in Lal Masjid operation
Musharraf denies any role in Lal Masjid operation
As Europe gets tough on migrants, Crete island sees spike in illegal crossings
- Eastern Libya has become a key launch point for smugglers, undercutting years of EU efforts to curb departures and making Crete a new pressure point
TYMPAKI, Greece: A Heron 2 drone whirs off the tarmac on a new surveillance mission. The aircraft’s sensors scan for boats along the 350-km stretch of sea between Libya and the Greek island of Crete and can detect activity hidden below deck.
Crete, Greece’s largest island, saw a threefold increase in irregular migration last year, becoming the country’s busiest point of entry with about 20,000 arrivals, even as overall irregular migration to Europe fell by 26 percent in 2025 compared with the previous year, according to data from Frontex, the EU’s border agency.
SPEEDREAD
One of Europe’s deadliest migration corridors, where unclaimed bodies often wash up on shore, the passage to Crete is fueled by wars and instability across Africa and is growing busier even as pressure eases on other Mediterranean routes.
As the EU readies tougher measures to combat illegal migration, Frontex says it will focus resources on Crete in an attempt to end the surge in arrivals.
Eastern Libya has become a key launch point for smugglers, undercutting years of EU efforts to curb departures and making Crete a new pressure point.
Many boats leaving Libya are overcrowded and barely seaworthy, attempting a long, exposed journey across the Libyan Sea, leading to tragedies such as a sunken fishing trawler that killed at least 700 in 2023.
Greek authorities recently rescued 20 migrants and recovered four bodies from a vessel in distress south of Crete. Dozens of others are believed missing.
Each rescue underscores the same brutal reality: The crossing is a gamble with lives.
The route to Crete is significantly longer and more perilous than the short trip from Turkiye to nearby Greek islands. It requires larger vessels capable of navigating the open sea for days and a different operational response from Frontex, including bigger patrol boats and expanded aerial surveillance.
