^[1]Tensions grew around a madrassa religious school and mosque in Islamabad onl Wednesday as Islamic teachers and students held three police officers and three women hostage over the arrest of several colleagues.

Several thousand mainly female students surrounded the Jamia Hafsa madrassa and Lal Masjid, or red mosque, in the city centre to ward of any attempt by police to force their way through to the captives, who were taken into the building amid a dispute about alleged brothels located in the area.

Veiled and masked students armed with sticks chanted anti- government slogans and demanded Islamic law in the country as negotiators brokered the release of the officers and detained teachers and students.

But by late evening three women, said to be the manager of an alleged brothel and two relatives, were still being held in the school. The students were demanding that charges be brought against them.

Police initiated a case against students for abducting the women while paramilitary units manned cordons around the complex, a known hotbed of militant support for the struggle against international forces in Afghanistan.

The stand-off began the previous evening when madrassa students detained the manager with the intent of “reforming” her. Police had ignored requests from the school to close the establishment, they said.

According to the cleric Abdul Rashid Ghazi who is also the deputy head of the complex said that the police kidnapped their female teachers, which ignited the situation

According to the madrassa, two teachers and six students were taken into custody. The students retaliated by taking two police officers hostage in the school with their squad cars, followed by the seizure of a plain clothes officer.

^[2]After several hours, authorities began to bend to demands from the madrassa and set free the detainees. They also pledged to release a former secret service agent who was arrested earlier this year while investigating the cases of missing citizens.

The students say that It is their right to take action, citing outrage at the tolerance of prostitution in the area.

Earlier in the week madrassa students reportedly visited local internet cafes and CD shops, accusing them of being sources of obscenity and demanding that they close down.

They then focused on alleged brothels being run illicitly in the district and their impromptu campaign was supported by local residents.

The madrassa and mosque are attended by 11,000 students, some of whom have occupied a nearby library for more than two months in protests over plans to demolish the school and a number of mosques in the city for breach of planning regulations.

But authorities were reportedly worried about a security threat from the complex. According to the reports the school encourages students to join the fight in Afghanistan and that suicide bombings are a legitimate form of attack. Automatic weapons are also known to be kept on the premises.

^[3]Earlier attempts to take action against the school and mosque were dropped amid the threat of a violent backlash. The events follow a series of nationwide protests by lawyers and opposition forces against Musharraf’s suspension of the chief justice for misuse of office.

Religious parties joined liberal opposition at the demonstrations, raising the likelihood of a broader opposition movement.