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Local Pakistani-Americans Stunned By Assassination

Tribune photo by Jim Reed

Pakistan native Rana Younas, owner of Apna Bazaar in Tampa, was disturbed to hear of the assassination of Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto even though he did not support her politically.

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By KAREN BRANCH-BRIOSO | The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 27, 2007

TAMPA - Rana Younas got the call early today from a nervous friend – a Pakistani-American like him – from Pakistan's capital, Islamabad.

Opposition leader and former Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto was dead, killed in a suicide attack just 12 days before the national elections.

"It really shouldn't happen like that," said Younas, owner of the Apna Bazaar near the University of South Florida. "That is sad, very sad for democracy – and for everything – in Pakistan."

Younas, 57, a native of Pakistan's Punjab province whose mother and brother still live there, said he was no fan of Bhutto, whose former administration was rife with corruption scandals: "But again, that does not mean somebody has to kill her. She was trying for democracy."

Sharada Srinivasan, who was 12 in 1947 when India split into the Muslim state of Pakistan and her largely Hindu nation of India, had just been watching Bhutto's speech live on an Indian TV station early Thursday. The news of the assassination greeted her when she walked into Apna Bazaar to buy groceries.

"Being a lady in a Muslim country, she was fighting like a lion for her country," said Srinivasan, 72, a retired physician and a Hindu who has lived in the United States for 28 years. "I learned this from the shop manager. It was a shock."

Sabahat Khan, an Apollo Beach real estate agent, got the news during a conference meeting. She raced to her computer to Google the latest news.

"This is very unnecessary. Very un-Islamic, to begin with," said Khan, 29, who came to the United States a decade ago with her husband, Amir Khan.

Her entire family is still living in Pakistan.

"My fear is, that as it is, things were not very calm and peaceful because of the upcoming election," Khan said. "And this will make it worse."

Malik Arshad, who is the treasurer of the Pakistani American Association of Tampa Bay and lives in Zephyrhills, got a phone call from his daughter-in-law in Karachi this morning.

She told him everything came to a stop.

"She was on the road and she called me and said everywhere she can hear firing. She can hear blasts and the traffic had come to a standstill," Arshad described. "I told her she should get into some kind of shelter right away."

Two hours later, Arshad got another phone call. His daughter-in-law and grandson had reached the safety of a relative's house.

Arshad then made another call to his son in New York, who was scheduled to fly to Pakistan next week.

"I told him don't go," Arshad said. "This is not the time to go to Pakistan."

The Tampa community will honor Bhutto at a memorial service and vigil scheduled for Friday evening.

The event begins at 7 p.m. at Joe Chillura Courthouse Square, which is between Morgan, Kennedy, Pierce and Madison streets in downtown Tampa, across from the county center and courthouse.

The office of Florida Sen. Ronda Storms, R-Valrico, is organizing the event.

News Channel 8 Reporter Steve Andrews contributed to this report. Reporter Karen Branch-Brioso can be reached at (813) 259-7815 or at kbranch-brioso@tampatrib.com.

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