Pakistani lawyers, Lashkar-e-Taiba mourn bin Laden’s death

Pakistani lawyers are protesting the US raid that killed Osama bin Laden and are praising the terror chief as a “hero.” From AFP via the Express Tribune:

About 70 lawyers staged a rally in Abbottabad, condemning the US operation in their city, witnesses said.

They shouted “Go, America go,” “Osama bin Laden is our hero” and chanted slogans against the US-allied and Pakistani government.

“We condemn terrorism but cannot accept any violation of our sovereignty,” said Tahir Faraz Abbasi, president of the local bar association.

In Peshawar, where bin Laden once lived during the fight to evict Soviet troops from nearby Afghanistan, about 200 lawyers offered special prayers for the al Qaeda supremo at the courts.

“Osama was a Muslim hero. He had been waging jihad (holy war) for Muslims across the world,” said prominent local lawyer Ghulam Nabi.

“I doubt Osama was in Abbottabad. Even if he were, he was our hero and he will remain our hero,” he said.

Keep in mind the Pakistani lawyers who celebrated the man who brutally murdered Punjab’s governor, Salman Taseer, for opposing Pakistan’s repressive blasphemy law, by showering him with rose petals.

Meanwhile, Lashkar-e-Taiba chief Hafiz Saeed praised bin Laden in Lahore while Saeed’s followers held rallies in Karachi. Again, from AFP via the Express Tribune:

A spokesman for LeT founder Hafiz Mohammad Saeed said he had told followers in Lahore that the “great person” of Osama bin Laden would continue to be a source of strength and encouragement for Muslims around the world.

“Osama bin Laden was a great person who awakened the Muslim world,” Saeed’s spokesman Yahya Mujahid quoted him as saying during prayers at the headquarters of the LeT’s charity in Lahore on Monday.

“Martyrdoms are not losses, but are a matter of pride for Muslims”, Saeed said. “Osama bin Laden has rendered great sacrifices for Islam and Muslims, and these will always be remembered.”

Amidst shouts of “Down with America” and “Down with Obama”, around 1,000 of Saeed’s followers held prayers in Karachi.

“May Allah accept the sacrifice of Osama bin Laden,” local leader of Let’s charity, Naveed Qamar, said at the prayers.

Bill Roggio is a Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and the Editor of FDD's Long War Journal.

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7 Comments

  • Jim says:

    Lawyers are the scourge of the Earth even in Pakistan.

  • AMac says:

    It’s interesting to contemplate the occupation of “lawyer” in a society such as Pakistan’s.

  • Paul D says:

    Sad state of affairs when Lawyers/educated people think this way!
    Afghanistan is not the problem Pakistan Is!

  • blert says:

    Many, many of these lawyers are Salafist activists.
    They routinely plead on the behalf of captured terrorists.
    Remember the Red House affair?
    They are not exactly law and order types.
    They see themselves as revolutionaries.

  • Hammerin Hank says:

    LMAO about Jim’s comments about “lawyers . . . even in Pakistan”.

  • Freedom Now says:

    The Free Lynne Stewart Committee is on the march again…

  • Neonmeat says:

    God these guys crack me up!
    The fact that OBL would have blown them all to hell if it served his purpose or if he thought it would further the Global Jihad doesn’t faze them in the least.
    I even feel sorry for them, they are pawns so easily swayed by years of religious education and Islamist propaganda that it is quite pathetic.

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