Mosque head wants to adopt Osama's kids

Updated on: 07 May,2011 06:27 AM IST |
Agencies |

Followers say they would be proud to have the children, as they are "heroes"

Followers say they would be proud to have the children, as they are "heroes"

Osama bin Laden's children may now be stateless because of the 9/11 mastermind's revoked citizenship status. However, Maulana Abdul Aziz, head of Islamabad's controversial Lal Masjid mosque, is offering to adopt the children. "We accept that bin Laden is dead and consider him a martyr," Aziz was quoted as saying.

"We know many people who would want to care for his children, and we would be willing to look after them, too," he added.u00a0Lal Masjid is one of Pakistan's most radical mosques, and a staging ground four years ago for a showdown between government forces and archconservative extremists.

Walking into Lal Masjid, 22-year-old Fahim Khan said that while he does not believe that bin Laden is dead, he hopes the children are assimilated in madrassas like Jamia Afridi, a school funded by the mosque. "We'd be proud to have them, the children, too, are heroes," Khan added.

Several retired Pakistan diplomats said that they doubted the government would allow bin Laden's children to be handed over to a madrassa, the report said. "It'd be a huge mistake. The children would've a cult following and almost certainly become jihadis," said Zafar Hilaly, a former Pakistan diplomat.

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