The library of a seminary for women run by a controversial hardline cleric in the Pakistani capital has been named after slain al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden.
The seminary is run by Maulana Abdul Aziz, the imam of the Lal Masjid that was once the target of a military operation during Pervez Musharraf’s regime.
“He (Osama) might be a terrorist for others but we do not consider him as a terrorist. For us he was a hero of Islam. He is a martyr,” Aziz was quoted as saying by Geo TV.
The name plate outside the library read ‘Maktbah Usama bin Ladon Sheeed’.
Bin Laden was killed in a US special forces raid in Abbottabad in May 2011.
The cleric’s brother Rasheed was killed during the Lal Masjid operation in 2007.
The operation had ended in a bloody eight-day siege killing at least 58 Pakistani troops and seminary students.
