Prayers for Bin Laden in National Assembly

Lawmaker leads prayers for al Qaeda chief defying calls from deputy speaker that he needed permission to do so.


Express May 11, 2011

ISLAMABAD/QUETTA:


Parliamentarians were stunned on Tuesday when a lawmaker led prayers for al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden, defying calls from Deputy Speaker Faisal Karim Kundi that he needed permission to do so.


At the National Assembly session, Maulvi Asmatullah, an independent candidate from NA-264 stood up and said Bin Laden had reportedly been given funeral services by the Americans and “we should pray for him”.

The prayer service hardly lasted a minute in which two JUI-F legislators from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, former federal minister Attaur Rehman and Laiq Muhammad Khan, participated.

The deputy speaker was administering the proceedings on a private members day, but he could not convince the lawmakers to stick to the rules of business. Osama bin Laden was killed in a US operation in Abbottabad in the early hours of May 2.

Earlier, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani said in the National Assembly that “Osama bin Laden was the most wanted terrorist and enemy number one of the civilized world.

Elimination of Osama bin Laden, who launched waves after waves of terrorist attacks against innocent Pakistanis, is indeed justice done. However, we are not so naïve to declare victory; missions accomplished, and turn around.”

The first of its kind prayer service at the floor of the National Assembly reflected a divergent view from the official stance over the killing of Bin Laden.

Chaos in Balochistan Assembly

Meanwhile in Quetta, Five PPP ministers have demanded the immediate expulsion of JUI-F from the provincial cabinet for promoting terrorism by supporting the Taliban in Balochistan.

Taking up the floor during Assembly proceedings on Tuesday afternoon, PPP Minister Mir Sadiq Umrani staged a walk-out and accused the JUI of being involved in terrorism.

He was joined by four other PPP Ministers – Ali Madad Jatak, Yunus Mullahzai, Jan Ali Changezi and Jaffar George.

Addressing a news conference after the session, Umrani said that the JUI-F is imposing policies to only protect its own interests.

He alleged that JUI-F annually take away 60 per cent of the total funds of the province. “The entire budget of the Balochistan government has been monopolised by JUI Ministers,” he claimed.

Talking to the media, Chief Minister Nawab Aslam Raisani termed the allegations false and baseless, while JUI-F Parliamentary Leader Maulana Wasey said his party has supported the PPP to form a coalition government.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 11th, 2011.

COMMENTS (25)

Shahryar Ahmed | 12 years ago | Reply Well, this is what we have come down too. We should thank Zia & present day media who have glorified people like OBL, Ayman Zawahri & Mulla Omer even Naiek Mohammad, KSM or Ramzi & Afia Siddiqui as heroes of Islam, when these people are the one who damaged Islam the most for their own personal beliefs which have nothing to do with Islam. I have seen our society going down the drain since the past two decades, the whole process started with; I guess it might surprise a few people when i say it all started with ZAB shaking hands with the Mullah's for political support. Islam was brought into everything and now wherever you go people only either discusses Religion or Politics. We don’t talk about education, health care, basic human rights, for us our lives revolve only around on Religion & Politics.
Sami | 12 years ago | Reply Perhaps its very right to pay homage to a person who stood against tyrant Imperialist U.S. good to learn from the Newzealand MP Hone Harawira who about OBL said.... "We have heard nothing but negative things about him from the Americans, but he fought for the self-determination of his people and for his beliefs," and Chosun Shinbo, the publication put out by Chongryon (General Association of North Korean Residents in Japan), who called the U.S. military operation to kill Osama bin Laden evidence of the U.S. being “the main culprit of state terror.” The publication, which represents the stance of the North Korean authorities, heavily criticized the U.S. in an article of the same name, calling the killing the actions of an arrogant imperialist and an infringement of state sovereignty. Perhaps our spineless military and political leadership should learn some manners from new zealander and north koreans. Say the Truth out Loud !!
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