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ISLAMABAD, Pakistan-Islamic scholars and a former prime minister started negotiating through cell phones and loudspeakers with militants holding a mosque in Pakistan's capital Monday, hoping to end the standoff and protect women and children inside. At least 24 people have died since gunbattles broke out last week between security forces and supporters of hard-line clerics who have tried to impose Taliban-style rule in Islamabad through a six-month campaign of kidnappings and threats.After a botched commando raid on the high-walled compound over the weekend, President Gen. Pervez Musharraf assigned former Prime Minister Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain to try to negotiate a peaceful end to the standoff."We have come here to play our role to resolve the issue. We hope that all these women and children who are inside should be allowed to come out," Hussain told reporters as he led negotiators through an army cordon toward the Lal Masjid, or Red Mosque.Information Minister Mohammed Ali Durrani said negotiators did not enter the mosque because of safety concerns, but contacted mosque leader Abdul Rashid Ghazi using loudspeakers and a cell phone.Six parents who had entered the mosque to look for their children had not returned, Durrani said. About 150 women and children are believed to be inside."If this effort fails, we have other options, too," Durrani told The Associated Press. "The basic strategy of the government is to rescue a maximum number of people.""We pray, we hope, we think that better sense will prevail and everything will be resolved peacefully," said Salim Ullah, a white-bearded cleric among the negotiators.The decision to give negotiations a chance came after Musharraf held a high-level meeting on the crisis. The mediators were believed to include Taqi Usmani, one of Ghazi's former teachers. To read more go to:
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