Pak MP leads Osama prayer

Lawmaker urges Parliament to pray for slain al Qaeda chief, saying it is proper since US also allowed his last rites as per Islamic values

Pak MP leads Osama prayer

Lawmaker urges Parliament to pray for slain al Qaeda chief, saying it is proper since US also allowed his last rites as per Islamic values

Amen: Asmatullah's demand, urging members of Pakistan's lower house
to pray for Osama bin Laden in the Parliament, stunned most of them

Two lawmakers from the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa provinceu00a0-- former federal minister Attaur Rehman, the younger brother of JUI chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman; and Laiq Muhammad Khanu00a0-- as well as Minister of State for Health Shahjehan Yousaf of the PML-Q and PPP parliamentarian Sher Muhammad Baloch participated in the 'fateha' prayer that lasted about a minute.

Deputy Speaker Kundi, who was administering the proceedings, could not convince the lawmakers to stick to the rules of business. "What you are doing? I did not give you permission," Kundi said. Before offering the prayer for bin laden, Asmatullah said, "The Americans claim they allowed the last rites for Osama bin Laden to be performed according to Islamic values. So it is proper for us to pray for bin Laden also." The scene stunned most lawmakers who were in the House and members of the treasury benches looked on helplessly, media reports said yesterday.

Asmatullah broke away from the JUI party last year and formed his own party, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Nazriati. Asmatullah's party had organised the first major protest in Quetta after the killing of bin Laden. Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani has said in Parliament that the elimination of bin Laden was "justice done" though Pakistan would retaliate with "full force" if the US or any country tried to conduct a raid similar to the one that killed Osama.

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