Freed Pakistan cleric urges Shariah

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, April 18 (UPI) -- Firebrand Pakistani Islamic cleric Maulana Abdul Aziz says that if Islamabad wants peace, the government should adopt Islamic law nationwide.

Returning to the Red Mosque in the capital for the first time since he was placed under house arrest two years ago, Aziz Friday told a throng of followers chanting his name that Shariah, or Islamic law, should instituted throughout Pakistan, The Washington Post reported.

"If the government wants peace and stability, it should adopt the Islamic system," Aziz said. "But if it chooses the path of aggression and force, it will further aggravate the situation."

Pakistani officials said Aziz supports Taliban militant groups in the country's northwest and by 2007 had become committed to bringing Pakistan under fundamentalism. The Red Mosque was the site of a bloody July 2007 confrontation between the government and Aziz's supporters, and on Friday he invoked the martyrdom of the more than 100 people who died in the military siege, the Post said.

"Islam has been successfully brought to Swat because of the sacrifices of the students of the Red Mosque," Aziz reportedly said. "The day will come, not long from now, when Islam will spread to the entire country."