DOHA - Al Jazeera English will air an exclusive programme filmed inside the controversial Lal Masjid (Red Mosque) in Islamabad in the days leading up to the siege when Pakistani troops stormed the building, leaving around 100 people dead.
The Witness special, presented by Rageh Omaar, will be aired on July 28, 2007.
Rageh Omaar met face to face with Abdul Rashid Ghazi, one of the leaders of the mosque.
Rageh asked him about his meeting with Osama Bin Laden and his religious and political awakening after the assassination of his father.
Rashid Ghazi believed that "wherever Muslims are awakening ... much has to do with the aggression, the tyranny being committed by America and its allied forces.''
In the exclusive interview, Ghazi describes the increasing tension between the mosque and the Pakistani authorities.
He said he doesn't think of surrender.
Rageh and his team were the last TV crew inside the mosque before the siege and filmed the last interview with Ghazi before his death.
The film also gained unique access into the Jamia Hafsa madrasa, the religious seminary for women attached to the Red Mosque.
"We work for what God wants," explains Umme Hassan, the woman who ran the madrasa, "The government hasn't fulfilled its duty and when it doesn't, according to the Prophet (PBUH), the responsibility falls on the clerics."
Rageh ventured to Pakistan before the siege to document the workings of The Red Mosque.
Two days into the filming, clashes erupted at the mosque between students and security forces.
A week later more than 100 were dead in military action.
Already, the storming of the mosque has led to violent attacks on government targets, and Pakistan's future is in the balance.
The Red Mosque, a Witness special will be aired at the following times:
Saturday 28th July 2007: 1900 GMT, Sunday 29th July 2007: 0000 GMT, 0500 GMT and 1100 GMT.
© The Peninsula 2007
