Nation mourns ‘model family’

A mother who was a “brilliant scholar”, a cricket-loving father with “a welcoming smile”, a teenage daughter who was “a friend to many” and a doting grandmother: the victims of Sunday’s truck-ramming attack in Canada, all Muslims with roots in Pakistan, were a “model family”, friends say.

The attack, dubbed a “terrorist” act by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, came out of the blue as the Afzaal family, taking one of the evening strolls they so loved, prepared to cross a street in the Ontario city of London.

The lives of three generations were snuffed out in a moment: Madiha Salman, age 44, who was doing postgraduate work in civil and environmental engineering; her 46-yearold husband, Salman Afzaal, who loved to greet people at the mosque; their 15-year-old daughter, Yumna Salman; and Afzaal’s 74-year-old mother, who has not been named.

The couple’s son, nineyear-old Fayez, was instantly orphaned. He remains in hospital with serious injuries.

What had been an ordinary evening for the Afzaals was brutally cut short when a black pick-up truck, driven by a 20year-old suspect, took deliberate aim at them, jumping a kerb and mowing them down.

The attack, in the city of 500,000 some 200km southwest of Toronto, sparked anger over another senseless attack on Canadian Muslims.

“Everyone who knew Salman and the rest of the Afzaal family knew the model family they were, as Muslims, Canadians and Pakistanis,” said a statement from their relatives. “They were always there giving and participating in spreading goodness.” All were hard workers, and the children were “top students,” it said.

A GoFundMe page has raised Can$470,000 to support Fayez and the broader Pakistani community in London.