Pakistani Lawmakers Pray for Bin Laden

AFP reports:

Three Pakistani lawmakers offered prayers for Osama bin Laden in parliament a week after US commandos killed the Al-Qaeda leader in a covert raid near the capital, a lawmaker said Wednesday.

The Saudi-born terror mastermind was killed by Navy SEALs in the garrison town of Abbottabad, where he may have lived for five years, in a raid that has raised tensions between Islamabad and Washington.

"Bin Laden was an international figure and above all a Muslim... I took it as my religious duty to offer prayers for him," said Maulvi Asmatullah, who led the prayers in the lower house of parliament on Tuesday.

The independent lawmaker from southwestern province Baluchistan said he was joined in the prayers by Laiq Muhammad Khan and Atta-ur-Rehman from the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (F) party, which was in government until late 2010.

Although the deputy speaker refused permission for the prayers, he did not switch off the microphone, effectively allowing them to be heard, Asmatullah said.

Pakistan criticised the US raid and denied sheltering the architect of the September 11, 2001 attacks, which killed 3,000 people.

The CIA said it did not take Islamabad into its confidence over the operation because it feared Pakistani agents could have tipped off bin Laden.