Turning down pleas seeking a stay on the offensive launched by the Army to flush the militants out of the Lal Masjid, Pakistan Supreme Court on Tuesday said it cannot interfere in operational matters of the security forces.

The two-judge bench of the apex court, which on Monday took suo moto notice of the stand-off ordering authorities to
provide guarantee for safety of those who surrendered, on Tuesday heard the government's version of events that led to its decision to storm the complex.

The bench comprising Justices Muhammad Nawaz Abbasi and Fakhir Muhammad Khokhar rejected pleas of several advocates asking for a stay on 'Operation Silence'.

The judges said that Supreme Court cannot interfere in operational matters of the security forces and they cannot grant any stay on this.

Government officials explained the sequence of events leading to the storming of mosque, saying they had complied with the apex court's order to permit a delegation of Islamic clerics to negotiate with Deputy Administrator of the Lal Masjid Abdul Rashid Ghazi, who is holed up inside the complex and using women and children as human shields.