According to the Post Bulletin article, Bhutto assassination shocks Pakistanis in Rochester:
Pakistanis in Rochester had a complex response to news of Benazir Bhutto's assassination Thursday. They were filled with shock and horror at the former prime minister's death. Some were distraught. But they were not, paradoxically, surprised that it happened.
"This seems to be something that has been repeatedly going on for the past few years. She is another victim of that -- of the mindless killing," said Tariq Choudhry, an IBM engineer who has lived in Rochester for the past 14 years. "Like her father, she gave up her life for the country."
He and other area Pakistanis also worried about the fate of their troubled country.
They said her death was a major setback for a country that stands at a critical crossroads, between democracy and the rule of law, on one hand, and chaos and perhaps civil war, on the other. . . .
Rochester is home to a small Pakistani community of 30 to 40 families:
Several said they immigrated to the U.S. to take advantage of the educational and career opportunities that weren't available in Pakistan.
The Owatonna People's Press relates a more personal tale in Benazir Bhutto assassinated. Owatonna resident Shah Ashraf, a member of the Pakistan's People's Party, was a childhood friend of Bhutto.
The Ashraf and Bhutto families have met once or twice a year in London or Dubai since she went into exile, and Bhutto stayed in his home in Owatonna after she gave a lecture at Buena Vista College in Storm Lake, Iowa.
Ashraf hopes to make a run for a senate seat in Pakistani following the parliamentary election, provided that they are not cancelled. Senators in Pakistan are elected indirectly by provincial assemblies and the territories’ representatives.
He blames Al-Qaida for the assassination:
. . .because of Bhutto's support for western-style democracy and her support for the war on terrorism. He doesn't believe Musharraf had anything to do with her assassination.
"The outcome of this death is that, now, every Pakistani will have to stop these idiot fundamentalists," he said.
The Washington Post looks at possible killers in Many Had Desire, Means to Kill Bhutto. Bhutto was the head of the People's Party, which she continued to lead while in exile.
A November news report in the LaCrosse Tribune notes that Ashraf, who maintains a dual US-Pakistani citizenship, was with Bhutto in Pakistan Oct. 18 when an explosion killed 136 people and injured hundreds of others.
KAAL-TV has posted a video feature about the friendship.
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