Local community mourns Bhutto

Jan 4 2008 by Katie Campling, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

HUDDERSFIELD Muslims have been in mourning for assassinated Pakistani politician Benazir Bhutto.

Members of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Association have taken part in three days of mourning at their base at Lower Fitzwilliam Street.

They said prayers for Mrs Bhutto, who was killed on December 27 at a political rally in Rawalpindi.

They also listened to a live telecast by the head of the international Ahmadiyya community, Hadhrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad, who urged Muslims to spread a message of peace.

Mrs Bhutto, who was twice Prime Minister of Pakistan, had returned to the country from self-imposed exile to support her Pakistan People’s Party.

She was hoping the pro-democracy party would take victory in forthcoming elections in Pakistan.

Mrs Bhutto is thought to have been shot before a bomb was set off, killing 20 people.

However, the Pakistani government says she died as a result of banging her head on her car’s sunroof after the explosion.

Some believe the killing was the work of Al-Qaeda terrorists.

Munir Ahmed, president of the Huddersfield branch of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Association, said they were disappointed that the Islamic religion was being given a bad name.

He said: “Our sympathies go to the millions of people in Pakistan who have been affected by such a death in such horrific circumstances. We hope and pray that the nation of Pakistan will stand true to democracy. We hold strong to the belief of elimination of terrorism, which is damaging the name of Islam.”