ISLAMABAD, April 16: The administration of Lal Masjid and Madressah Hafsa on Monday suspended dialogue with the government following what it called aerial surveillance and spraying of suffocating gas on the mosque by a military helicopter.

“Spraying of gas and taking snaps of girl students with very low flight of chopper on civil population is violation of the dialogue process as well as international laws,” Maulana Abdul Rasheed Ghazi, deputy chief of Lal Masjid, told a news conference.

However, nobody from the population confirmed the claim regarding spraying of gas from the helicopter or if it was a military helicopter. No hospital in the city reported receiving any person affected by gas.

According to Maulana Ghazi, the helicopter started hovering over Lal Masjid at about 10:30sm, came down very low, continued surveillance for 12 to 15 minutes, sprayed gas and flew away. “Many girl students of Madressah Hafsa and children of my family fell unconscious because of the gas,” he alleged.

He claimed that the government had finalised a plan to conduct a crackdown against Lal Masjid and the helicopter had been sent to monitor the ground situation or to scan the mosque compound to get information about presence of arms and ammunition in it.

“We have contacted Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, who expressed ignorance about the incident and had sought time till the evening to look into the matter,” he said.

Meanwhile, students of seminaries and supporters of Lal Masjid staged a demonstration outside the mosque and blocked roads for several hours to protest against the surveillance.