In Canada, home to growing numbers of South Asian immigrants, people with roots in Pakistan struggled Thursday to adjust to the death of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto.

The Pakistan flag is lowered in front of the Pakistan Embassy in Ottawa on Thursday, following the assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto.
(Sean Kilpatrick/Canadian Press)

"This is a black day in the history of Pakistan," said Toronto-based author Raheel Raza, a pioneering leader of  mixed-gender Muslim prayers in Canada.

"As a Pakistani woman, I can certainly tell you that it is a very, very, it is very shocking and a very hard day for human rights, for women's rights, for all the work that we believe we could have done towards democracy and freedom.

'This has taken us back into the dark ages.'— Toronto-based author Raheel Raza

"This has taken us back into the dark ages, and it is very unfortunate and very sad that a person like her had to give up her life in order to uphold what she believed in."

Bhutto was killed Thursday in an apparent suicide attack at a campaign rally in Rawalpindi in which at least 20 others died.

The 2006 Canadian census found about 93,000 Pakistani citizens in the country, including many with dual citizenship, not counting the many Canadian descendants of immigrants from Pakistan.

'People are burning property; they are burning cars'

Among those living in Canada, there is fear about the safety of those back home.
 
"I'm receiving calls," said Mubashir Rasool, president of the Quebec branch of Bhutto's Pakistan Peoples Party.

"People are burning property; they are burning cars; there are no trains, and there is a high alert emergency there."

Rasool said he is worried about his brother, sister and mother, who still live in Pakistan.
 
"Nobody [is] coming out from the houses because there is too much violence in the street," he said.

Ibrahim Daniyal, secretary of the party's Canadian branch, said he cannot see how the Jan. 8 general election in Pakistan can take place on schedule.

"I can tell you we have to keep moving to the next leader of Pakistan Peoples Party," he said. "Who will lead Pakistan Peoples Party?"

Farrukh Alam, president of the Pakistan-Canada Association, said he hopes that people in Pakistan won't react to the killing with more violence and destruction.

Bhutto, he said, was  "one of the major leaders in Pakistan and her family has done a lot for Pakistan. I'm not one of her supporters but I'm definitely an admirer and I definitely wanted her to be part of Pakistan politics because she makes it better."

Mohammed Yunus, a former University of Calgary professor and Pakistani diplomat, said Bhutto died because of her liberal political beliefs.

"It all began with her stand, when she was still not in Pakistan, that when she became prime minister she would put an end to the Taliban in the northern provinces and allow the United States to come in and operate against them," he said.

Yunus said the election will probably be delayed because of Bhutto's death.

Voice for moderate views

Haider Nizamani, a University of British Columbia political science professor, said it is difficult to imagine what Bhutto's absence will mean for Pakistan's future.

Nizamani said she was a voice for moderate views in a country run by the military. Despite her years in exile, she had been a political force in Pakistan since the mid-1970s. She had twice been the country's prime minister and was campaigning for the coming election.

In Toronto's Little India, where Indian and Pakistani shops prosper side by side, people expressed sadness at the news of the assassination.

Rupah Singh said he worries about the stability of the entire region. "It was a bit of a shock, actually," he told the CBC's Philip Lee-Shanok. "I think they're going back to army rule. They have to."

In his store, Amhed Anwar listened to updates on the radio. "She went there, tried to do what she can," he said, "but these terrorists, what they want is their way."

Anwar, who has relatives in Lahore, worries that the killing will trigger more violence in Pakistan.

"Innocent people die because of these terrorists, and that's bad," he said.

In Montreal, grocer Ijaz Bart opened his store on Jean Talon Street 45 minutes late because he was watching coverage of Bhutto's assassination.

"I feel very bad," he said, "and really, I feel — I just wanted to say that this is the murder of democracy in Pakistan."

Tariq Zahir, general secretary of the Pakistani Association of Quebec,  said Bhutto represented progress and democracy for Pakistanis around the world.
 
"She was out there for the rights of the middle class and the lower class, and she took a strong stand," he said.
 
"She really was a strong advocate for the rights of poor people and women; she was really fighting hard to achieve all those goals. With her gone, those dreams are dead now, you know."