The victim: Cashier at bank had all to live for
She was 20 years old, from Plaistow, east London. He was 18, from Holbeck, Leeds. Both were from close-knit families - one Bengali, the other Pakistani. Both were Muslims. Hasib Hussain became a suicide bomber. Shahara Islam became his victim Audrey Gillan Thursday July 14, 2005 Guardian She was a thoroughly modern Muslim, a young woman who loved her Burberry plaid handbag and fashionable clothes while at the same time respecting her family's wishes that she sometimes wore traditional shalwar kameez at home. She went shopping in the West End of London with friends but would always be seen at the mosque for Friday prayers. Shahara Islam, 20, was a second-generation Bengali who made her family proud when she left Barking Abbey school with a clutch of A- levels and took a job as a cashier at the Co-operative Bank. Last Thursday, her usual hour-long tube journey - which took her from the family home in Plaistow, in east London, up to Islington's Angel tube station - was interrupted. Alighting from the underground, she got on the No 30 bus and it was there that her path crossed that of Hasib Hussain, the youngest suicide bomber, whose life in some ways mirrored her own. Yesterday, as the family was given the news that Ms Islam had been formally identified at the scene of the bus explosion on Tavistock Square, a close relative, said: "I am speechless that an 18-year-old boy is responsible. There's none of us in the family that can understand it. I think there are a lot of people out there who would think 'how stupid is this kid?'. I have no idea what to think about this." Minutes before the bomb went off Ms Islam called her uncle Nazmul Hasan, 25, but he missed the call, a fact that gave the family a little comfort since this was almost an hour after the three tube bombs went off. She may have been evacuated from the tube and boarded the bus in the ensuing melee. Mr Hasan said his niece was a "simple and down to earth girl". He went on: "Her family were very happy and proud of her. Everyone who knows her, loves her dearly. There isn't one single person who could say a bad thing about her." In the cafes across the road from the bank, situated just seconds from the bus stop where she would have got off, the owners and customers said that at first they had not recognised the smiling girl dressed in turquoise silk who stared out at them from the newspaper pictures of those who were missing after the bomb. They had been used to seeing her in her uniform but when they looked past the tunic and scarf, they saw the same woman who served them at the bank and came in regularly with friends for cakes or lunch. Shahid Khan, owner of Patisserie Bliss, said: "At times she would come in for her morning patisseries. She was a pleasant, modern girl. I couldn't recognise her in the picture at first. I saw her in mainstream clothing. She was eloquent in her speech, a very confident, upright sort of girl. She had a nice manicure and her hair was always straightened. She didn't look like some stereotyped ethnic minority. "Usually we would get short of change and I would run over to the bank and if she was at the till she would always be pleasant and helpful. It was a shock to find out that there was such a loss of a lovely life." Selim Ataoglu, owner of the Angel Inn, a traditional London cafe, said that staff from the bank had come in before opening yesterday. "The bank manager came here and the staff this morning and they had a little meeting, they were all crying. "I am a Muslim too, but this is not for religion. This boy who killed her was second generation, but second generation people don't believe so much in religion, somebody washed his brain." Ms Islam's father, Shamsul, 42, worked as a supervisor for Transport for London. His wife, Romena, 38, stayed at home to bring up her three children, Shahara and her brother, Anahurul, 17, and sister, Tasmeen, 13. Mr Islam was born in the Sylhet area of Bangladesh and his family moved to London a few years later. The bomber: Aimless youth with poor future Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2005 Post message: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe : [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe : [EMAIL PROTECTED] List owner : [EMAIL PROTECTED] Homepage : http://proletar.8m.com/ Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/proletar/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
