Free Auntie Aziz

A group of "students" has reoccupied the Red Mosque in Islamabad, Pakistan, demanding that the government release their cross-dressing leader, Maulana Abdul "Auntie" Aziz. Pakistani troops are apparently already moving in on the agitators.

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, July 27 — Radical students retook the Red Mosque in this normally sleepy capital city on Friday, forcing a government-appointed cleric to flee and demanding the release of their pro-Taliban leader, who was arrested earlier this month during a showdown that ultimately claimed more than 100 lives.

The action raised the possibility of another siege at the mosque, just weeks after the government dispatched hundreds of elite commandos in a successful but bloody effort to take control of the building.

A chaotic situation unfolded on the streets outside the mosque complex Friday, with an angry crowd of hundreds watching as young men climbed onto the roof to chant jihadist slogans and repaint parts of the building red, after the government had painted it a soft yellow. The men also hung the Red Mosque's old, signature black flags from the building's minarets, and threatened to take over a nearby market.

Earlier, a group of extremist activists had blocked a cleric recently appointed by the government to lead the mosque from delivering his Friday sermon–traditionally the focal point of the Muslim holy day.

President Pervez Musharraf has his hands full at the moment with the situation in the so-called tribal areas, this isn't helping. Then again, the last uprising at the Red Mosque did not get much in the way of public support, it is possible that the radicals are overplaying their hand.