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7/7 bomber's family hold party as city mourns
Amar Singh07.07.08
A party is being held at the grave of a 7/7 bomber in what is being described as an insult to the 52 London commuters murdered three years ago today.
The family of Shehzad Tanweer and 400 guests will "celebrate his life" and "remember him as a martyr" at a village in Pakistan today.
Tanweer, 22, Mohammad Sidique Khan, 30, Hasib Hussain, 18, and 19-year-old Jermaine Lindsay also died when they detonated rucksack bombs on three crowded Tube trains and a No30 bus.
Tanweer's uncle, 42-year-old property developer Tahir Pervez, is organising the celebration in which verses of the Koran will be read out then curry and rice distributed at his home in Samundari. He said today that he has "fond feelings" for his nephew and planned to visit Tanweer's mother in Leeds later this month, adding that she was "still devastated" at the loss of her son.
Seven people were killed and 171 injured when Tanweer detonated his bomb on a westbound Circle line train near Aldgate station. One villager in Pakistan who asked not be named, said: "The party is kept very secret from people outside the village but everyone knows it happens every year. People are invited to join in blessing Shehzad Tanweer's soul by reading verses from the Koran and they call on us to remember Shehzad as a shahid (martyr)."
The gathering has twice been held in secret - yards from Tanweer's grave which is fiercely protected from outsiders.
It is the largest in the cemetery of the village called Chak 477 and is opposite the mosque.
On the grave, his epitaph bears the phrase "La ilaha il Mohammed dur rasool Allah" which means "there is no God but Allah, and Mohammed is his messenger".
Andrew Dismore, MP for Hendon said: "It is absolutely appalling that his family are choosing to mark the date in this way. What are the Pakistan government doing about this?
"Five people from five different ethnic and religious groups died from my constituency on 7 July 2005 and this is a damning insult to their memory and their family members. Most Muslims would be absolutely horrified, as I am, that Shehzad Tanweer is being remembered by some people as a martyr."
Mr Pervez told the Standard he regularly visits Britain to visit his sister, Parween Tanweer, the bomber's mother, adding: "I have visited England four times since his death and even though immigration authorities ask me questions, they usually do not realise who I am."
Mr Pervez added: "It is a very different story in Pakistan though. I have been grilled by FIA (Federal Investigation Agency) and the army ferociously since the death of my nephew. They still disturb me despite my repeated appeals that I have nothing further to say on the matter but I have never been kept under custody in the UK. Shehzad used to visit me every year with his family. Of course because I am his uncle, I still have fond feelings for my nephew." He also revealed plans to travel to Beeston in Leeds, where Tanweer lived and where most of his family remain.
"I am leaving again in two weeks time and this time I will be staying with my uncles, aunts and yes, even at Shehzad's home," he said.
"His parents still live in their old house with their community. Of course Shehzad's mother is still devastated as she has lost a young son."
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