He, however, warned that any Madrassas found involved in activities incompatible with law or promoting militancy and extremism would be dealt with according to law of the land.

Giving the example of the action taken against the militants of Lal Masjid and Jamia Hafsa, the prime minister said law will take its course if the government finds any other Madrassas involved in the projection of such militancy.

The prime minister said the exact number of causalities of the militants will be ascertained following the completion of "sweeping" operation at the Lal Masjid and Jamia Hafsa which is being carried out by the law enforcing agencies after the completion of the military operation on Wednesday morning.

He said the issue of Lal Mosque and Jamia Hafsa had been growing for a while and the government had credible information about presence inside the complex of "certain category of people who were not really students."

The prime minister said people from inside the Jamia Hafsa triggered the action due to their interference in the routine life and by challenging the writ of the government.

He said, "The people from this complex tried to enforce their own brand of laws and rules." He said the government's well-thought out strategy to save the lives of maximum people including children and women, proved successful as lives of 1300 women and children were saved who were held hostage in the Lal Masjid and Jamia Hafsa.

He said, "Saving the lives of maximum people was the center-point of government's strategy and with the safe retrieval of 1300 children, women and men from Lal Masjid and Jamia Hafsa, we have been successful in our objective."

The prime minister said the government made every effort to resolve the issue through dialogue, but the Lal Masjid and Jamia Hafsa administration did not respond positively.

He said last-minute attempts were made to resolve the issue amicably till Tuesday morning, but the dialogue stopped particularly when the negotiating team was told that there are foreign militants in the Lal Masjid and Jamia Hafsa and safe passage was being sought for them.

The intransigence of a few extremists hampered every attempt for a peaceful solution of the issue and the government was compelled to launch the operation, said the prime minister.

The prime minister said extremists in Jamia Hafsa damaged the country and brought a bad name for the religion Islam.

He said the government adopted the strategy to avoid the loss of life as much as possible.

Aziz said despite the government's utmost patience and tolerance over the Jamia Hafsa issue for the last six months, the miscreants were challenging the writ of the government by kidnapping and making the people hostage.

He said during the last few weeks and months various political and religious leaders were engaged, to resolve the issue but Jamia Hafsa administration did not pay any heed to such efforts.

The prime minister said the militants from Jamia Hafsa even set on fire the building of Environment Ministry and tried to take control of Estate Office. He said there was a growing public opinion that the government should act against those people, who were challenging the writ of the state.

Shaukat said, "The government has always supported Madaris and will continue the same for the promotion of religious education."

He said the government has Madrassas Reforms to ensure that these madaris, which have been doing a service to promote religious education, should also include formal education in their curricula.

Answering a question, he said the resistance from the militants inside the Lal Masjid and Jamia Hafsa was more than the expectations of the government as they were trained hard-core militants.

He said so far 40 to 50 militants died in this operation and there was not a single woman among them while ten military personnel lost their lives in the operation which was done with utmost care to save the lives of women and children.

Answering a question, the prime minister said there were intelligence reports that arms and trained militants were inside the complex.