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SHURAN, Pakistan: Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf on Saturday told Islamists at a besieged mosque in the capital to surrender or risk being killed, in his first public comments on the five-day standoff.
"They should not prolong, they should surrender and hand over their weapons, otherwise they risk being killed," Musharraf told reporters during a visit to the flood-hit southwestern province of Baluchistan.
"The government has enough power and no one can stand before its might. Our concern is for children and women and we are showing lot of patience and restraint," he added.
Hundreds of hardline students and dozens of militants have been holed up at the Red Mosque in Islamabad since Tuesday in a bloody confrontation that has left at least 19 people dead.
The government says dozens of women and children are still inside the mosque being used as human shields.
Musharraf said 1,300 people had already surrendered so the rest should now follow.
Musharraf, a key US ally in the war on terrorism, said the actions of th mosque's followers had embarrassed the Pakistani government abroad.
"They have defamed Islam, they have defamed Pakistan, they have embarrassed Pakistan internationally," he added.
His statement came hours after the cleric leading the resistance said he had received a call from an unidentified man who had allegedly tried to shoot Musharraf's plane on Friday in revenge for the crackdown.
- AFP/so
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