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British Pakistanis leaving Conservative Party after secretary’s ‘racist’ attack

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LONDON: A group of Pakistani doctors associated with the Conservative Party has claimed that it has lost over 200 members after UK Home Secretary and Member of Parliament Suella Braverman made bigoted and racist comment about Pakistani men linking them with sex grooming gangs.

Braverman’s comments that British Pakistani men “hold cultural values at odds with British values” and that they are linked with the grooming scandal have drawn wide criticism and senior Conservative leaders have accused her of peddling racist and Islamophobic lies to gain the support of right-wing sections.

In a letter to the home secretary, Dr Ashraf Chohan, Chairman and Founder of Conservative Friends of National Health Service (NHS), has told the home secretary that his organisation has lost over 200 members who are all doctors.

Dr Chohan has told the secretary that he fears more doctors will leave the group as they no longer associate themselves with a party whose secretary holds such racist views. Conservative Friends of NHS has been raising funds and gathering support for the Tory party for several years.

Dr Chohan wrote: “Since a statement from you as home secretary I have lost 200 members who are all doctors, Therefore, only Sadiq Khan would be delighted on the statement you gave last week about British Pakistanis and can a clarification be issued that you only meant offenders and criminals but not each Pakistani man please, as we, Conservatives can’t afford losing any more votes.”

The letter to the secretary presents a fact sheet to Braverman on the contribution of Britons of Pakistani heritage. It says over 1.2 million in Britain are of Pakistani heritage with a large number of them working in the NHS; there are 10 Labour and five Conservative MPs, the London mayor and the first minister of Scotland are of Pakistani descent; boxers and cricketers of Pakistani heritage are far higher than any other ethnic community.

It further added that the majority of British Pakistanis are considered to be working or middle class; 50% are employed; 25% self-employed; 20% of Pakistanis are in managerial or professional occupations; 20% in intermediate occupations;  25% are in routine or manual occupations; and 45% of British Pakistanis living in both inner and outer London are middle class.

The letter informs the secretary that her false narrative has hurt the sentiments of millions of ethnic minorities and she must apologise to Pakistanis and withdraw her comments.

Faith leaders, community groups, professional forums, and activists have come together to issue an unprecedented condemnation of Home Secretary Suella Braverman’s “racist, Islamophobic, irresponsible and divisive” rhetoric linking child sexual exploitation with Pakistanis.

The home secretary’s “racist and inflammatory comments” from a series of interviews labelled as “inflammatory and divisive rhetoric that is sensationalist and contradicts her own department’s evidence”.

Pakistani organisations have been joined by British Nigerian, British Indian, British Bengali, and others in mounting condemnation of the Home Secretary, arguing that the secretary’s rhetoric overlooks the impact “cuts in public sector and community services under the current government have had on young people increasing their vulnerability”.

British Pakistan Foundation (BPF) has called on Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to distance himself from Braverman’s extremist rhetoric and issue an apology to British Pakistanis.

The Muslim Women’s Network and others who have evidenced and worked with Asian victims of grooming have commented: “The Home Secretary’s approach of demonising an entire community and lending credibility to far-right narratives undermine the need to ensure all victims of CSE are protected and all perpetrators are brought to justice.”

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PM Shehbaz will meet with Saudi ministers and speak at the WEF special session today.

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On the third day of his visit to the Kingdom, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will speak at the World Economic Forum Special Meeting’s final plenary, which is titled “Rejuvenating Growth.”

Other speakers at the concluding plenary, in addition to the prime minister, are Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Economy and Planning Faisal Alibrahim, British Secretary of State David Cameron, WEF Geneva President Brørge Brende, and WEF Head of Middle East and North Africa Maroun Kairouz.

Meetings with Saudi ministers of trade, energy, the environment, and agriculture are also scheduled for the third day of the prime minister’s visit. He will probably also meet with his counterpart from Malaysia.

Mohammed bin Salman, the prime minister and crown prince of Saudi Arabia, will be present at the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Special Meeting on Global Collaboration, Growth, and Energy for Development, which gets underway here today.

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The nomination of Ishaq Dar as deputy prime minister raises concerns.

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A lot of doubts have been raised by Ishaq Dar, the foreign minister, being appointed deputy prime minister.

No reference to the Constitution, regulations, or any other law was mentioned in the Cabinet Division’s notification of the appointment.

What powers Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif used to designate Ishaq Dar as deputy prime minister has come under scrutiny in light of this.

There are questions about the legal foundation for the deputy prime minister’s nomination as it appears from the notification’s phrasing that rules for the position have not yet been established, according to insiders.

Likewise, the announcement is vague about the deputy prime minister’s proposed authority.

Deputy prime minister would be purely symbolic, according to government sources, and would not be authorized to carry out prime ministerial duties. In Pakistan, the deputy prime minister has previously been nominated.

The PPP administration appointed Chaudhry Parvez Elahi as deputy prime minister.

Observe that Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar was appointed deputy prime minister on Sunday with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s consent; the Cabinet Division formally announced the appointment.

Dar holds the position of Pakistan’s fourth deputy prime minister. Previous appointments to the position of deputy prime ministers included Parvez Elahi, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, and Begum Nusrat Bhutto.

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Audio leaks case: FIA, PTA, and PEMRA pleas seeking Justice Sattar’s recusal dismissed

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The Islamabad High Court fined each of the three government departments Rs. 500,000 on Monday after dismissing their arguments against a bench trial over audio leaks.

The court may also hold the heads of the aforementioned departments—the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA), and the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA)—culpable for contempt.

In the audio leak case, four government agencies—the PEMRA, PTA, FIA, and Intelligence Bureau—filed separate petitions with the IHC, pleading for Justice Babar Sattar’s recusal and asking for the case to be heard by the same bench that has previously decided a case of a similar nature.

The petitioners contended that in order to prevent a different ruling, Justice Babar Sattar should recuse himself from the case that was decided in 2021. The petitions of Bushra Bibi, the wife of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf founder Imran Khan, and Najamul Saqib, the son of former chief justice of Pakistan Saqib Nisar, should also be brought before the same bench.

During the current hearing, Justice Sattar also issued a summons to IB Joint Director General Tariq Mehmood, directing him to come before the court for the case’s subsequent hearing.

Following the issue’s discovery in 2023, the judge has been considering the aforementioned petitions.

The government agencies contended in the petitions in the case before Justice Sattar that Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani had already resolved an analogous issue in 2021. Thus, in order to prevent a conflicting ruling and for the sake of justice, they asked the judge to recuse herself from the case.

The departments are requesting that Justice Sattar recuse himself after six IHC judges—among them, himself—complained in writing to the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) about intelligence agencies interfering with the court’s decision.

On March 25, the judges called for the calling of a judicial convention to address the issue of purported meddling by intelligence agents in the judicial activities or “intimidation” of judges in a way that jeopardised the judiciary’s independence.

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