North Jersey Pakistani-Americans shock, outrage over assassination

Friday, December 28, 2007
By ELIZABETH LLORENTE and WILLIAM LAMB
The Record
STAFF WRITERS

North Jersey Pakistani-Americans reacted with horror Thursday to the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, saying they fear her death will breed more violence in their homeland.

Many had been optimistic that Bhutto, a reformer vying for a third stint as prime minister in the January elections, was the best hope for democracy and stability in a nuclear nation that until recently was under a state of emergency. Now, they said they fear that Pakistan, which this year has weathered a record number of suicide bombings, would spiral into civil war.

"Never in Pakistan's history have we seen such a large number of our people divided, fighting with each other," said Waheed Khalid, a former president of the Darul Islah mosque in Teaneck. "If I go to Pakistan now, I could not trust the Pakistani standing next to me. We are killing each other."

Only weeks ago, Pakistani-Americans were distressed by televised images of police beating back demonstrators protesting President Pervez Musharraf's suspension of the constitution. Musharraf said he imposed emergency rule to crack down on religious extremists, but critics said he was trying to intimidate political opponents.

Musharraf lifted the state of emergency on Dec. 16. Bhutto emerged as the front-runner as the elections approached, giving Pakistani-Americans hope that their country would stabilize.

"It's horrible," said Sohail Mohammed, a Clifton attorney and one of the community's prominent leaders in New Jersey. "When people in Pakistan were so close to exercising their right to vote, there's an assassination and it puts the cause of democracy thousands of steps back."

Mohammed said Bhutto remained popular despite having been ousted as prime minister twice on charges of corruption.

"She did have her past, but people saw her as the lesser of all the evils in Pakistani politics," Mohammed said. "She was committed to reform, to bringing democracy. She wanted to bring back Supreme Court justices who Musharraf forced to resign; that was going to be her first step as prime minister."

The 2000 census counted more than 12,000 New Jersey residents who identified themselves as Pakistani. Many keep close watch on matters affecting Pakistan, holding fund-raisers for congressional candidates and meeting with U.S. political leaders to push for foreign policy initiatives.

Arsalan Gilani of Teaneck, who last visited his homeland in August, said Bhutto provided a crucial political balance.

Allegations of corruption had to be put in perspective, Gilani said, because Pakistan lacks the checks and balances of American-style democracy. But many Pakistanis still consider an imperfect democracy preferable to dictatorships and military rule, Gilani said.

"In Pakistan, many things don't get done without paying off people and doing favors for friends and acquaintances," he said. "[Bhutto] had more potential to do good for Pakistan than any other leader."

Hafiz Samiullah Chaudhary, co-owner of Tandoori Grill, a Pakistani restaurant in Lodi, said Bhutto's assassination was "very saddening to the nation because, after a very long time, Pakistan was on the route to democracy."

"She knew there were risks in an election season, and she took that risk because she wanted to give hope to the Pakistani people," Chaudhary said.

Some blamed what they described as failed U.S. policies that have fueled resentment against the West and broadened support for extremists, who were widely suspected to be behind the assassination.

Khalid said the world should see the worsening crisis in Pakistan as a global concern.

"We should all be very concerned, because Pakistan is a nuclear power," he said.

Mohammad Anwar, who was slicing meat behind the counter at the Nadi Halal Meat shop on Newark Avenue in Jersey City on Thursday, likened the Bhuttos to an American political family that he said was similarly plagued by tragedy -- the Kennedys.

Bhutto's father, former Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, was hanged in 1979 after he was deposed in a military coup. Her brother Shahnawaz died under suspicious circumstances in France in the 1980s. Another brother, Mir Murtaza, was shot to death by police outside his house in Karachi in 1996.

"It's no good, what happened," said Anwar, who arrived in New Jersey from Pakistan six years ago. "All the people -- Pakistanis -- say it's no good. It's the same thing as the Kennedy family, you know."

At the Al Medina restaurant on Grove Street in Jersey City, patrons dined from a halal buffet while coverage of the Bhutto assassination played on television.

The restaurant's owner, Mohammad Riaz, said the assassination was "a shock for the nation" and for his customers.

"They're Pakistanis and they're very sad with this unfortunate thing," he said. "She was a very popular leader. It really is a black day for the nation. There is a big gap now."

Mino Akhtar, an Emerson resident who plans to visit Pakistan in February, sobbed after hearing the news. She said her daughter tried to comfort her.

"She reminded me that an assassination does not mean the end of hope for democracy," Akhtar said. "She said, 'John F. Kennedy was assassinated, Ghandi was assassinated, and it happened in two strong democracies.' I thought about it, and she's right."

Still, Akhtar said, in the current turmoil, "My fear is that now there'll be more violence, more martial law."

Staff Writer Giovanna Fabiano contributed to this article, which includes material from The Associated Press. E-mail: llorente@northjersey.com and lamb@northjersey.com