|
 ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) - Once respected by the Pakistani establishment, the smooth-talking pro-Taliban cleric killed in the mosque siege Tuesday pushed authorities too far with a sometimes bizarre drive to enforce strict Islamic law in the capital.
When a student, he was regarded as a moderate Muslim, but Abdul Rashid Ghazi, 43, was radicalized by the assassination of his cleric father in 1998. After Pakistan's president allied with the U.S. following the Sept. 11 terror attacks, Ghazi emerged as an increasingly outspoken critic of Gen. Pervez Musharraf's government.
With his elder brother, Abdul Aziz, the Red Mosque's chief cleric, Ghazi cultivated links with Islamic militants and often lashed out at Pakistan's support of the U.S.-led war against terrorist groups — tapping an antipathy shared by many people in this conservative Muslim nation.
|