It was a surprising but welcomed shift in the official stance after reported preparations for a full scale assault overnight. The government has changed many ploys since paramilitary troops surrounded the mosque and an affiliated female seminary since last Tuesday to punish hardline clerics for running a Taliban-styled anti-vice campaign for past six months.
One of them was arrested on last Wednesday and other is still leading his students from inside the besieged compound. Officials say some of them are members of outlawed militant organisations. Security forces fired some teargas shells on the compound but kept guns down to give negotiations a chance.
Led by Pakistan Muslim League (PML) President Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, a delegation of ministers and religious scholars held telephonic talks with Ghazi from a location close to the mosque. Face to face negotiations, however, could not take place as both sides differed on where they should meet.
The government said it was not safe to send people inside because militants could make them hostage. Ghazi refused to come out of the compound, fearing security forces would either kill or arrest him.
It was the first direct link between the government and defiant cleric at Lal Masjid since the stand off started a week ago. Some contacts through media were established though. An official who was part of the delegation claimed some 'encouraging developments' had taken place. Religious Affairs Minister Ijazul Haq said hopes were high for a peaceful settlement.
Ijaz told media that the government had called a mediator whom Ghazi wanted to be part of talks. He did not name him. Some unconfirmed reports suggested the government would use members of banned outfits as negotiators. A religious scholar also came up with similar anticipations. He hoped the conflict could be resolved any time soon.
Maulana Hanif Jalindhri told a television network early on Tuesday morning talks were heading towards success and there was no deadlock. He said the government and Ghazi had agreed on some points that could lead to an understanding. He denied giving details.
Religious scholars stayed at the place of negotiations when Shujaat and ministers held talks with Musharraf in between. They rejoined scholars on early Tuesday morning when the final draft of this report was being prepared. Some religious scholars said they were ready to go in at their own risk. Reports suggest they would meet Ghazi on Tuesday.
A session judge from Islamabad reached outside the mosque and called upon Ghazi to surrender. "Ghazi! hand yourself over to law," Mirza Rafiuz Zaman shouted on loudspeaker. Supreme Court earlier in the day asked the government to continue seeking peaceful settlement of the conflict to save innocent women and children inside the compound.
Ghazi has in the past been saying he would surrender if the apex court takes notice of the situation and a judicial inquiry is conducted into the conflict. He, however, did not respond to judge's call late on Monday night.
Tensions in surrounding areas remained high as the siege of the mosque compound that also includes an affiliated female religious college enters second week on early Tuesday morning. Some suspects out of male students who surrendered last week were handed over to secret agencies for further investigations. Information Minister Muhammad Ali Durrani said the government would continue seeking a peaceful solution of the problem.
Agencies add: Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz said the government would allow Ghazi to be held under house arrest with his ailing mother if he surrenders and frees women and children inside the Lal Masjid. Fears of a bloodbath have kept President Pervez Musharraf from launching a full-scale raid to end the standoff at the complex, where foreign fighters and rebels with links to Al-Qaeda are also said to be holed-up.
"We are trying to avoid loss of life and using all negotiating options to end this crisis, including house arrest for Ghazi and his old mother," Aziz told reporters at Prime Minister House in Islamabad. The negotiating team, led by former premier Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, swept up to a safe point near the mosque in a fleet of government pick-up trucks and Land Cruisers guarded by soldiers with machine guns.
Religious Affairs Minister Ijaz-ul Haq, who is part of the delegation, told AFP that there had been no breakthrough after Ghazi, speaking through a megaphone, refused for about an hour to leave the mosque. "Ghazi will not come out and we do not want to go inside," Haq said. The government later sent in a mobile phone after Ghazi said his batteries had run out.
"I have personally spoken to him on the telephone and we are trying to convince him to listen to the government and Ulema side. So far he is not responding positively," Haq said. "Ghazi does not want to come out because he does not trust the government," the official told AFP.
Parents of children in the mosque waiting nearby urged the government to act swiftly. "I was told that I could go with this delegation and take my daughter back, but they have left me here," wept Asia Bibi, 40, whose 14-year-old daughter Asma is inside the mosque. He said there was a hardcore of around 40 extremists, led by three or four key rebels.
He said there were "reports" that they included Abu Zar, a commander of the extremist group Harkatul-Jihad-e-Islami, which has been accused of involvement in the murder of US journalist Daniel Pearl and an attempt to kill Musharraf.
Security forces fired teargas and exchanged fire with the rebels in clashes earlier Monday, killing one of the mosque's radical students, security officials said. A car was also set ablaze.