Former schoolmate of Bhutto now
in Arizona feels loss
Leigh Munsil
The Arizona Republic
Dec. 27, 2007 12:08 PM
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/1228bhuttolocal1228.html
Arif Kazmi cried as he tried to summon words to
describe fallen former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.
"She was a wonderful lady," he said. "We lost a very good person."
Kazmi, now a civil engineer with the Arizona Department of
Transportation, grew up with Bhutto in Larkana, a small town in
southern Pakistan.
"Her father was a great friend with my father,"
he said.
Kazmi used to talk with Bhutto at family gatherings, he said,
usually about education and cricket.
They went to the same boarding school in the mountains of northern
Pakistan, in the Murree hills, when he was between 10 and 17.
"She was a year or two younger than me," he said.
Bhutto went to the girls' part of the school, called the Jesus and
Mary Convent, and he went to Lawrence High School, Kazmi said.
"She used to be a shy person when she was in school, I remember
that," Kazmi said. "She was not so outspoken."
Still, Kazmi said Bhutto was "a graceful lady," even at a young age.
The transformation from shy teenager to world leader was solidified
when her father, former Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, was
hanged in 1979 by his political successor.
"I'm sure that changed her entire life," Kazmi said. "That was a
turning point for Benazir, I'm sure."
Kazmi, who moved to the United States in 1974, said he received
between 10 and 12 phone calls from relatives and friends in Pakistan
after her assassination Thursday morning.
"It was just devastating," he said. "They just
are crying, they are weeping. They want to share with me and I want
to share with them.
"They are very grieved."
Kazmi said it's too early to tell what will happen in the upcoming
Pakistani election, but said that the country would be in chaos for
at least the next few days.
Bhutto's death is "a great setback to the country and to the
progress it could have made," Kazmi said.
"She was a very good figurehead, she was a very good leader," he
said. It will not be easy for the Pakistan People's Party to fill
Bhutto's place, Kazmi said.
"We were going toward progress and peace," he said. "We are going
backward now.
"We had hope in her."
Kazmi said he plans to go back to Pakistan in January or February to
be with his family and pray at Bhutto's grave.
Kazmi holds on to dream of building mosque
Mar. 21, 2007 12:00 AM
Arif Kazmi, former chairman of the Chandler Human Relations
Commission and a civil engineer, has lived in the city for 22
years. For most of that time, he drove to Tempe to worship in
the Southeast Valley's only mosque.
Ten years ago, Kazmi volunteered to start planning the Chandler
Community Mosque. Although construction has been slow at the
site near Alma School Road and Chandler Boulevard, Kazmi said he
is optimistic.
What made you decide to get involved in the building project?
"Everyone wants their children to grow up to be good,
God-fearing people. I started volunteering for the Islamic
Center in Tempe 15 years ago because it was the only one in the
area at the time. People came from far away, we carpooled, and
some asked, 'Why isn't there something in Chandler?'"
"I wanted to contribute and get a place constructed where people
from the community can come together. . . . "
How can people better understand Islam?
"We have a gathering open to the public every Friday
afternoon at 1:30 at Trinity Lutheran Church, 739 W. Erie St.
Everyone is invited, and we welcome questions. Usually the
prayer ends at 1:45 and after that is the social time."
What is being done to finance construction since your faith
doesn't allow borrowing? "We are planning fundraisers in the
near future. Anyone interested in contributing in knowing about
the plans when they are made can e-mail me at kazmiarif@yahoo.com."
-Edythe Jensen
http://www.azcentral.com/community/chandler/articles/0321cr-threequestions0321Z6.html
