PAKISTAN: Residents in Abbottabad worry that Osama bin Laden house could become shrine

Record ID: 574973

  • Title: PAKISTAN: Residents in Abbottabad worry that Osama bin Laden house could become shrine
  • Date: 6th May 2011
  • Summary: MOUNTAINS DOTTED WITH HOUSES HOUSES ON MOUNTAIN SIDE MINARET OF MOSQUE VARIOUS OF MILITARY CONVOY PASSING BY VARIOUS OF MAN OFFERING PRAYERS BY ROADSIDE MADRASA STUDENTS WALKING BY
  • Embargoed: 21st May 2011 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Pakistan, Pakistan
  • Country: Pakistan
  • Topics: War / Fighting,Religion
  • Reuters ID: LVAEUYXVJHZ2UNTMO5MNEJDUT4BZ
  • Story Text: In the Pakistani capital Islamabad, the shrine of Bari Imam was busy on Thursday (May 5) with worshippers offering prayers and gifts of cloth, flowers or incense with hopes that their prayers would be answered.
    All over Pakistan, shrines attract hundreds of people who offer prayers to the patron saint with hopes of receiving favours. Shrines are usually built on the tomb of a holy or revered person -- like Bari Imam, who is the patron saint of the area around capital Islamabad.
    But with the death earlier this week of Osama bin Laden, rumours are sparking worries over the possibility of the house where the al Qaeda leader was killed by U.S. special forces, being turned into a shrine.
    Opinions over bin Laden and his death are mixed in Pakistan. Many dislike the al Qaeda leader for the 9/11 attacks, but others respect him for his anti-West stance and the fact that he was a very religious man.
    "He was Muslim, he was pious. So if America has done this, they have done a bad thing. If his grave is made, we will go there and pray for his soul," said Haq Nawaz, a stone mason from nearby Rawalpindi who was visiting the shrine.
    But in Abbottabad, where bin Laden was said to have been living for years before the raid on Monday (May 2), media speculation and rumours that the house could become a shrine, or that the house may be torn down to make way for a holy place in honour of the al Qaeda leader, are sparking worries.
    "Oh no! Not at all. No shrine is going to come up here. People have become so scared of this house that we are now avoiding it by 10-miles. No shrine, or anything else of that sort, will be built here. So it should not be pulled down," said Abbottabad resident Fakhr Shah.
    Residents have many questions and a lot of scepticism over the incident which has thrust their town into international headlines. Many still can't believe the world's most wanted man had been living in their midst.
    They also point out that bin Laden belonged to one of Islam's most conservative branches which does not allow worship at shrines on the basis that such devotion is not Islamic.
    Many doubt bin Laden followers would attempt to build a shrine, although they would certainly see bin Laden as a martyr.
    The United States, which said they gave bin Laden a sea burial with full Islamic rituals, decided on Wednesday (May 4) not to release photos of the corpse, which officials have described as "gruesome".
    The lack of tangible proof that bin Laden has died is adding to the disbelief.
    "Of course this house should not be pulled down. Osama was never here. This is all a drama," said college student Amanullah Khan.
    Those who live or work near the compound, which was the scene of a fierce gunbattle, said they never even saw the occupants of the house with high walls.
    "We never saw them. They never came out. We have never seen them on the roof," said carpenter shop apprentice Qazi Hussain.
    In Pakistan, the debate of whether bin Laden was dead or not, or if he had really been living in the compound in the military garrison town of Abbottabad, just two hours away from Islamabad, was slowly evolving into a debate focusing on the government's involvement, or the lack of involvement in the operation.
    The government is facing a national embarrassment, a leading Islamabad newspaper said, in explaining how the world's most-wanted man was able to live for years in Abbottabad, after Islamabad had insisted for years that bin Laden was in the rugged tribal areas straddling the Afghan border and out of their reach.
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