New Delhi: The police are still in a tense standoff with Madarsa students at the Lal Masjid in Islamabad.
The masjid is still holding two of the four policemen abducted demanding that authorities free 11 fellow students currently under detention.
Police earlier detained more than 40 Islamic students of the Pro-Taliban hardline seminary attached to the Lal Masjid.
The standoff between the government and radical clerics continued as security forces geared up for a major operation in Islamabad on Sunday night.
Ten thousand commandos had been deployed to rescue two policemen held hostage in the Lal Masjid.
The government had declared an emergency in two major hospitals of the city. The traffic police had been given an alternate traffic plan for any emergency situation.
Security men believed to be sharp shooters were posted at roofs of some buildings around, it said.
About a hundred students supporting radical clerics were seen guarding the mosque.
Bamboo wielding students took position in and around the mosque and a girls madrassa located near it and closed the road with barbed wire even as the mosque's loud speaker played songs related to jihad (holy war).
While most of the students were seen holding bamboo sticks, some preparing pickets on the buildings inside were carrying machine guns.
One of the clerics Abdul Rashid Ghazi announced that his students numbering several thousands would retaliate with suicide bombers if there were any action against them.
Madarsa students affiliated with the Lal Masjid had abducted four policemen on Friday.
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