ISLAMABAD — The bloodbath at Islamabad's Red Mosque continues to hang like a grim shadow over Pakistan's fractured politics and society, one year after the army moved against militants holed up there.

More than a thousand faithful gathered at the small mosque in central Islamabad Friday for highly charged prayers, the first Sabbath after the anniversary of the military assault.

Pakistanis from all walks of life, not just the ultra-religious, believe that thousands of innocent people, mostly women and children, died in the assault on the mosque and an adjoining seminary for women, a sentiment that has further alienated the population from the state. The government's official death toll is 100.

The operation sparked a campaign of violence that has had profound implications for Pakistan: Former prime minister Benazir Bhutto was assassinated by extremists, and the deteriorating ...

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