Local reactions to Bhutto assassination

[toddg]

http://www.amny.com/news/local/am-reax1228,0,4318264.story

amNY
New Yorkers somber after Bhutto assassination
By David Freedlander, amNewYork Staff Writer
December 28, 2007

The perpetually buzzing hive of Jackson Heights, Queens took on a somber pall Thursday as residents in the heart of the city's Pakistani community reacted with grim resignation to the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.

At Mansour Bookshop on Broadway, owner Abbas Zaidi, pulled Bhutto's book, "Whither Pakistan: Dictatorship or Democracy?" from a window display.

"It's not surprising," he said. "The government can't provide security. She was everyone's leader. Her background was very international. She was very educated. There is no one else."

As he spoke, an Urdu newspaper was delivered with the headline, "Benazir Bhutto Killed in Suicide Attack" splashed across the front.


(follow link for remainder of article)

[John Prester]

I'm sure the local Jackson Heights branch of Al Qaeda, "The Islamic Thinkers", will be issuing a condolence statement very soon.

[elyaqim]

I'm sure the local Jackson Heights branch of Al Qaeda, "The Islamic Thinkers", will be issuing a condolence statement very soon.

Perhaps you meant that the condolence statement would be fake and hollow, used only to gain sympathy amongst the mourners, but a right-wing religious group like al-Qa‘ida, and thus presumably the Islamic Thinkers, would have hated Benazir Bhutto. As a matter of fact, an al-Qa‘ida commander has claimed responsibility for the assassination. See http://www.ndtv.com/convergence/ndtv/story.aspx?id=NEWEN20070037061&ch=12/28/2007%208:21:00%20AM.

Miss Bhutto was a feminist who was the first woman prime minister of an Islamic state. She was head of the Pakistan People’s Party, a progressive center-left party that promoted the rights of women and the poor. Their credo is “Islam is our faith; democracy is our politics; socialism is our economy; all power to the people.” Her assassination was an attempt to keep more liberal, progressive and secular leadership out of power in Pakistan.