Scant Info on Missing From Mosque Siege

A Pakistani woman whose son is missing, shows his photograph to people near the Lal Masjid, or Red mosque, Monday, July 9, 2007 in Islamabad, Pakistan. President Pervez Musharraf on Monday gave clerics more time to persuade defiant militants to lay down their arms and surrender a mosque they have defended against thousands of government troops, security officials said. The decision came at a high-level meeting grappling with how to crack the weeklong armed resistance at the Lal Masjid, or Red Mosque, in the heart of the capital. (AP Photo/K.M.Chaudary) (K.m.chaudary - AP)

-- ISLAMABAD, Pakistan _ Knots of anxious parents crowded Friday around a large green board where officials said they would post information on the missing from the deadly siege of the Red Mosque.

But the board was blank.

From behind a black burqa, Hanifa Bibi said she had found her younger son in a hospital, but could find no trace of her older child, Shahid Shah, 22.

"For God's sake help me find him. I beg the government to let me know where my son is. Is he dead or alive? Please show me," she pleaded.

Like dozens of people, she made her way to Islamabad from a poor, distant village in hopes of learning whether a missing loved one was freed, captured or killed during the confrontation at the pro-Taliban mosque, which army commandos overran Wednesday after an eight-day siege.

Bibi rushed between the capital's main hospital, a distant graveyard and a government center hunting for her children, who were among hundreds of male and female students studying at the radical mosque.

She stared grimly at the rows of graves, adorned with garlands. Although the government has not confirmed the deaths of any children in the operation, two of the graves were tiny.

The government says 102 people died in the violence, including 91 civilians and 11 military personnel. But many parents say they believe the government is trying to cover up a far higher death toll.

Interior Minister Aftab Sherpao said Friday the names of those detained, killed and released would be posted on the ministry's Web site. The photos of the dead, he said, would be made available to the media.

But confusion still reigns _ not least because of myriad, often conflicting, numbers cited by officials, as well as uncertainty over how many people were inside the mosque complex in the first place.

"The government should be brave enough to tell us if they have killed my cousin. At least they should inform worried people so that they can cry a bit, pray for the departed souls and return home to rest," said Khattak Khan, who came to Islamabad from near the Afghan border to seek his 25-year-old relative.

According to the latest official figures, 248 people inside the sprawling complex were wounded. An additional 246 people were still being detained by authorities.

On Thursday, authorities temporarily buried 72 corpses, including 19 charred beyond recognition, and said photographs, DNA and finger prints were taken of each. Those searching for the missing say the information was not being made available to them.

"I repeatedly went to Adyala Jail, the main hospital and yesterday to the graveyard but nobody nowhere is telling me where my son is," said Gulfaraz Khan. He came from the northwestern city of Mardan and was waiting outside the center set up by the government at the Jinnah Sports Stadium to help those in search of the missing.

His son Zar Mohammed Khan, 19, was studying at a boys' madrassa, or religious school, adjacent to the Red Mosque. Gulfaraz Khan described his son as a "calm and quiet boy" who had memorized half the Quran, Islam's holy book.

"We are trying to get all the information from hospitals, jails and graveyards and display it all together here so people won't have to run from one place to another," said Shahid Hasan, superintendent of the government center.

Muzammil Hussain Shah said his missing son was not a student at the Red Mosque, but had gone there to pray when gunfire erupted between mosque militants and security forces on July 3, setting off the siege.

Shah, a retired government employee accompanied by his wife and two daughters, met with a center official, who eventually directed him to another office.