PESHAWAR, May 2: The news of killing of Osama bin Laden overshadowed the proceedings of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly on Monday when a lawmaker of Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl termed him a hero of Muslims, prompting a cabinet member to call him a symbol of terror.

On a point of order, Mufti Kifayetullah of JUI-F said that Osama was a hero for Muslims and a great jihadi leader, who sacrificed his life for the glory of Islam. He said that America in collaboration with the army killed Osama in a fake encounter in Abbottabad.

The cleric from Mansehra paid rich tribute to bin Laden in his fiery speech in the house and blamed military for his assassination. “It is a matter of shame for army and government that foreign forces invaded the country and killed our hero,” he remarked, adding that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government was equally responsible for this action.

“This is a fact that Americans killed bin Laden but they could not eliminate his ideology,” he maintained. He said that it was the darkest day in the history of Pakistan.

Awami National Party parliamentary leader Bashir Ahmad Bilour, who also holds the portfolio of senior minister, while giving a tit-for-tat reply to the Mufti termed bin Laden a symbol of terror. He said that the killer of thousands of innocent people had reached his logical end.

“Thank God, we have been rid of this man,” said Mr Bilour amid loud thumping of desks by the treasury members.

He said that Osama bin Laden was not only responsible for killing of 10,000 innocent people but also killed over 3,000 soldiers. Osama and his supporters had destroyed schools, hospitals and killed their brothers and sisters therefore he did not deserve sympathies, he said.

“He (Osama) was providing suicide jackets, guns and explosives to our children in Swat and other parts of the country. His people have killed 400 workers and lawmakers of ANP,” he added.

“Let them (Al Qaeda fighters) fight in Middle East and other parts of the world instead of killing innocent people in blasts. If Osama was a true Muslim then he should have launched jihad in his own territory,” he said, adding that before the fall of Taliban government about 500 ulema had asked Osama to leave Afghanistan.

Speaker Karamatullah Khan Chagharmati, who was presiding over the proceedings, did not allow Qalandar Khan Lodhi, the parliamentary leader of PML-Q, to express his views on the US forces operation in Abbottabad.

Mr Lodhi told Dawn that news about presence of bin Laden in Abbottabad shocked him and he did not believe that he was residing in such a peaceful and sensitive area. “This is failure of our security agencies that a high value target took shelter near the prestigious military academy,” he said.

Although security alert was declared in Peshawar after the news of bin Laden's killing spread, people thronged bazaars and shopping malls. Offices and schools in the provincial metropolis remained open. Security was on alert as usual.

However, people seemed reserved to express their feelings on the killing of the Al Qaeda leader, who stayed in the provincial capital along with his fighters for several years during the Afghan war. Many native of Peshawar did not believe the news about the killing of bin Laden.

Mohammad Sajjad, a shopkeeper in Saddar Bazaar, said that he did not believe in the death of bin Laden. “Americans always tell lies. They have declared Osama dead many times before and I can't trust,” he remarked.