According to a news report published in DAWN, the mosque was cordoned off because the occupants were given a deadline to vacate the premises by Wednesday. The newspaper quoted officials from the capital administration and police as saying that the agreement was reached with Maulana Aziz on Sunday, under which he would be allotted 20 Kanals of land for construction of Jamia Hafsa and the Lal Masjid would be vacated in return.
Whereas the maulana’s nephew, Haroon Abdul Rasheed Ghazi, had denied that they had agreed to vacate the mosque. Another round of negotiations was started with Maulana Aziz on Wednesday, and an eight-member committee of Deoband scholars has been involved to reach an agreement.
The mosque has been vacated just before the visit of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to Pakistan, he will arrive in Islamabad today for a two-day visit and will stay in Red Zone, that is close to the mosque.