Dozen British Pakistanis Elected to UK Parliament in Elections 2017

Twelve British Pakistanis, including 5 women, have been elected members of parliament (MPs) in recent elections held in the United Kingdom, according to media reports.  Seven of them are members of the Labor Party and three belong to the Conservative Party. This sets a new record with the increase of two MPs from the May 2012 elections that resulted in the election of 10 MPs of Pakistani origin. British Pakistanis make up 1.8% of the British population, about the same as their representation in the House of Commons.

Six of the Twelve British-Pakistani MPs
British Pakistani MPs and Peers:

In addition to the 12 British Pakistanis in the House of Commons, there are 8 members of the House of Lords, the upper house of the British Parliament, bringing the total strength of British Pakistanis in the UK parliament to 20. Most of them are from very humble backgrounds in rural Pakistan. Majority of Pakistanis in the UK are from Mirpur and its surrounding villages in Azad Kashmir. They or their parents migrated to Britain when they were given compensation by Pakistani government for their land to make way for the building of the massive Mangla Dam after the signing of the Indus Water Treaty between India and Pakistan in 1960. Five of the twelve British Pakistani MPs in the new parliament are from Azad Kashmir.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan:

Last year saw the election of Sadiq Khan as mayor of London, making him the first Muslim mayor of a major western capital city. Mayor Sadiq Khan is also of Pakistani-origin. Khan's father migrated to Britain in 1960s and worked as a London bus driver. Khan comes from a family of two generations of immigrants: His grandparents migrated from what is now India to the newly created state of Pakistan in 1947 and his parents migrated from Karachi to London in 1969. Sadiq Khan was born in London in 1970.

British Pakistanis' Struggles:

While the British Pakistanis have made some headway in the public sector in their new home, they continue to face discrimination, particularly in the private sector.  A 2016 study by the government’s Social Mobility Commission found that the "children of Bangladeshi and Pakistani origin in Britain have outperformed other ethnic groups to achieve rapid improvements at every level of education, but are significantly less likely to be employed in managerial or professional jobs than their white counterparts".

The study said that the "minority ethnic pupils (including Pakistanis) are outperforming white working class children in English tests throughout school, with white British teenagers coming bottom of the pile in the subject at GCSE level".



British Pakistani Doctors: 

Pakistan is the second largest source of doctors of foreign origin serving in the United Kingdom, according to OECD. Indians make up 34% of the foreign doctors in Britain, followed by 11% from Pakistan.

Summary:

British Pakistanis have achieved significant success in spite of their humble origins and discrimination they face in their adopted home. 12 of them serve as members of the House of Commons and 8 in the House of Lords. Mayor Sadiq Khan of London, the first Muslim leader of a major western capital, is the son of a London bus driver who migrated from Pakistan. British Pakistani children are outperforming their white working class peers in schools. British Pakistani doctors are the second largest population of doctors of foreign origin in the United Kingdom.  The British Pakistanis are among the best of the Pakistani diaspora, or any diaspora, in the world.

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Comments

Riaz Haq said…
The Gapminder animations based on data compiled by Prof Hans Rosling show that life expectancy in Pakistan has jumped from 32 years in 1947 to 67 years now, and per Capita inflation-adjusted PPP income has risen from $766 in 1948 to over $5,000 now. http://www.gapminder.org/tools/#_locale_id=en;&chart-type=bubbles
Riaz Haq said…
Son of #British #Pakistani bus driver Sajid Javid appointed #Britain’s home secretary. Another son of #British #Pakistani bus driver Sadiq Khan is mayor of #London. #Pakistan

https://tribune.com.pk/story/1699074/3-pakistan-origin-sajid-javid-appointed-britains-interior-minister/

LONDON: Sajid Javid was appointed as Britain’s home secretary on Monday after Amber Rudd resigned over her handling of immigration policy.

Here are some facts about the new, 48-year-old home secretary:

Javid campaigned to remain in the European Union during the 2016 referendum, even though a few months before the vote he said his “heart” was for Brexit. After the result, he said: “We’re all Brexiteers now.”
He was the first member of Britain’s South Asian minority to be given a full-time post in the cabinet when he was appointed culture minister in 2014. His father moved to Britain from Pakistan and worked as a bus driver in Bristol.
Before starting his career in politics, Javid worked for Chase Manhattan Bank and for Deutsche Bank, helping to build its business in emerging markets.
Javid cites the late Conservative prime minister Margaret Thatcher as his political inspiration, and has often hung a portrait of her in his ministerial office.
In 2016, Javid supported the former work and pensions minister Stephen Crabb as a candidate to replace then-prime minister David Cameron as leader of the Conservative Party in return for a promise to be appointed finance minister. Crabb’s bid ultimately foundered when he failed to secure enough votes.
New interior minister has drive, determination: PM May’s spokesperson

Javid has shown drive, ambition and determination to get to grips with difficult subjects, Prime Minister Theresa May’s spokesperson said.

British-Pakistani MP removed as UK’s business secretary

Describing Javid as one of the most experienced ministers around the cabinet table, the spokesperson said he would need those skills in his new job.

The spokesperson said no further ministerial changes were expected after Javid’s and two other appointments were announced earlier.
Riaz Haq said…
A little lad from a remote village in #Pakistan went on a remarkable journey - he's now #Manchester first citizen—-as Lord Mayor. #England #UK - Manchester Evening News

https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/little-lad-remote-village-pakistan-16281715


Manchester’s new lord mayor has been sworn in - marking a long journey from a remote village in Pakistan.

Longsight councillor Abid Latif Chohan grew up in the Punjab region of Pakistan before moving to Manchester to work as a lawyer.


He said it was a ‘huge honour’ to take on the prestigious role and the he looked forward to serving the city.

Coun Chohan vowed to help make Manchester a 'fairer and more inclusive place to live and work'.

He took up the chains from Coun June Hitchen, who said the past year had been a 'wonderful journey'.

She told the town hall's latest full council meeting: “Our city is truly remarkable. I can’t thank you enough.”


Paying tribute to outgoing mayor Coun Hitchen, colleague Pat Karney - the town hall's city centre spokesman and Harpurhey representative - said he was ‘awestruck’ by her ascent from a 15 year-old machinist in Miles Platting to becoming the town hall's ceremonial chief.

He said: “I do think young women and girls - 10, 20, 50 years from now - will read your story and take pride and admiration in what you have achieved.”
Riaz Haq said…
#British #Pakistani MP Afzal Khan takes oath in #Urdu.“.. I am proud to represent a city (#Manchester) where over 200 languages are spoken...Today at the swearing-in ceremony, I recited my oath in #Urdu to honour my father ...” https://www.dawn.com/news/1523130

As the newly elected representatives of the British Parliament were sworn in, a Pakistani-origin MP took his oath in Urdu.

Afzal Khan, who retained his seat for the Labour Party from Manchester Gorton in the general election, hailed on Twitter the diversity in parliament and said: “Thrilled to be back in #Parliament as an MP for #Manchester. I am proud to represent a city where over 200 languages are spoken.”

He added: “Today at the swearing-in ceremony, I recited my oath in #Urdu to honour my father who served in the British Indian Army.”

In parliament, he took the following oath in Urdu: “I, Afzal Khan, do solemnly, sincerely and truly declare and affirm that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, her heirs and successors, according to the law.”

Khan was elected as the Labour MP from the same constituency in 2017. One month after being elected, Khan was appointed as Labour’s shadow immigration minister.

Born in Pakistan, he moved to the UK at age 11 and worked as a labourer in a cotton mill, a bus driver and a police officer before he qualified as a solicitor and became a partner at a law firm. He became the first Asian mayor of Manchester.

In 2008, Khan was awarded CBE for his work on community cohesion, interfaith harmony and local government. Last year, former president Mamnoon Hussain awarded him the Sitara-i-Quaid-i-Azam.

His move to read the oath in Urdu was welcomed by supporters on Twitter, with one of them saying he feels proud that the MP hails from Jhelum.

In a 2005 interview with The Guardian, Khan said: “I lived in a small place in Jhelum and was ahead of my age in school when my uncle adopted me. Together with my family I came to the UK and we settled in Brierfield in Lancashire. I went straight to secondary....”

He left school at 16 and went on to work as a labourer. In 2016, a Pakistani-origin MP Humza Yousaf made headlines when he delivered his oath to the Scottish Parliament in Urdu.

Six hundred and fifty MPs returned to parliament on Tuesday to begin the swearing in process, which usually continues for two to three days.

Riaz Haq said…
#Coronavirus: #British-#Pakistani doctors saving lives in both countries. Dr Akhtar is an intensive care unit consultant in #Britain's #NHS. He's using #telemedicine to share his experiences with counterparts in his country of birth, #Pakistan. #COVID19 https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-53282823

"We are very proud of the NHS service we are giving here," Dr Akhtar said. "And because of our relationships both in medicine and otherwise, it was very important for us to help our colleagues and to help the people of Pakistan."

Dr Akhtar told the BBC the huge number of coronavirus cases meant that even in the UK it was not possible for intensive care doctors alone to treat seriously ill patients - doctors from different specialties also had to be drafted in. In Pakistan, the difficulties would be amplified, he said, making it useful for those doctors to have "someone they can talk to, someone they can take advice from".

Dr Muhammad Ashraf Zia, who heads the Covid-19 ICU in Jinnah Hospital, told the BBC it was "very useful" to exchange ideas with Dr Akhtar - even though he is a senior doctor himself, as coronavirus is such a new disease. He said his team had begun using certain medicines to treat patients that they previously had not, and they were now producing "very good results".

There have been about 250,000 coronavirus cases and 5,000 deaths recorded in Pakistan. That's substantially lower than in Britain, where more than 44,000 people have died, even though it is likely fatalities in Pakistan have been undercounted.

However, Pakistan has far fewer doctors per capita than the UK, and at times hospitals there have been stretched. According to the World Health Organization, there are under 10 medical doctors per 10,000 of the population in Pakistan, about three times fewer than in the UK.

Dr Suhail Chughtai, another UK-based doctor of Pakistani origin, built the telemedicine software used to connect to the intensive care unit in Lahore. The software allows doctors to talk via video link and exchange copies of case notes as they speak. His aim was "to plug the gap" in Pakistan caused by a relative lack of intensive care specialists, by "importing" those doctors from the UK via telemedicine, he said.
Riaz Haq said…
None of the UK’s top jobs is held by a White man for the first time. But British politics remains unequal, experts say


https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/07/uk/liz-truss-diverse-cabinet-uk-gbr-intl


New British Prime Minister Liz Truss has assembled the most ethnically diverse Cabinet in the United Kingdom’s history, with several top jobs given to Black and other minority ethnic lawmakers.

For the first time ever, none of the holders of the country’s four so-called “Great Offices of State” – the prime minister, the chancellor and the home and foreign secretaries – is a White man.

Kwasi Kwarteng, who will take charge of the UK’s dire economic situation as chancellor, was born in London after his parents migrated from Ghana in the 1960s; the mother of James Cleverly, the new foreign minister, came to the UK from Sierra Leone, while incoming Home Secretary Suella Braverman has Kenyan and Mauritian parents.

No other G7 country can claim such diversity at the heart of government and it reflects a rapid rise in the number of minority ethnic politicians to the top tables of British politics in the past decade.

But experts say this fact can obscure other prevalent inequalities in the UK’s political system.

Critics fear the continuation of a series of divisive Conservative government policies towards refugees, asylum seekers and disadvantaged communities, and some have pointed to the class and educational backgrounds of the country’s new Cabinet as a symbol of Britain’s most defining political gulf.

“It’s extremely significant and it’s an extraordinary rate of change,” Sunder Katwala, the director the the British Future think tank that focuses on issues of immigration, integration and national identity, said of the make-up of Truss’s new Cabinet.

But “these are more diverse political elites,” he told CNN. “It’s a meritocratic advance for people who have done well in education, law and business. It’s not an advance on social class terms.”

“It’s absolutely fantastic that we have a more diverse House of Commons, set of parties and government, in terms of gender and in terms of ethnicity,” said Tim Bale, a professor of politics at Queen Mary University and the author of books on the Conservative Party.

“But it does hide the fact that we have an ongoing disappearance of working-class people from politics, and that has knock-on effects in terms of policy and turnout.”
Riaz Haq said…
Ali Ahmed Aslam, 77, Credited With Inventing Chicken Tikka Masala, Dies
A Glasgow restaurateur, he was part of the rise of the British curry house — and played an essential part in its story.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/22/dining/ali-ahmed-aslam-dead.html

Ali Ahmed Aslam, the Glasgow restaurateur who was often credited with the invention of chicken tikka masala, died on Monday. He was 77.

His son Asif Ali said the cause was septic shock and organ failure after a prolonged illness. He did not say where Mr. Aslam died.

Much like Cartesian geometry, chicken tikka masala was most likely not one person’s invention, but rather a case of simultaneous discovery — a delicious inevitability in so many restaurant kitchens, advanced by shifting forces of immigration and tastes in postwar Britain.

Many cooks claimed that they were the ones who served it first, or that they knew a guy who knew the guy who really did. Others insisted it wasn’t a British invention at all but a Punjabi dish. None of those stories seemed to stick.

Instead, the bright tomato-tinted lights of fame shone on one man: Mr. Aslam, who immigrated to Glasgow from a village outside Lahore, Pakistan, when he was 16, and who opened the restaurant Shish Mahal in 1964.

What seems to have established Mr. Aslam as the inventor of the dish was an unsuccessful 2009 bid by the Scottish member of Parliament Mohammad Sarwar to have the European Union recognize chicken tikka masala as a Glaswegian specialty. In an interview with Agence France-Presse, Mr. Aslam explained that he had added some sauce to please a customer once, and you could almost hear him shrug.

In Aslam family lore, it was a local bus driver who popped in for dinner and suggested that plain chicken tikka was too spicy for him, and too dry — and also he wasn’t feeling well, so wasn’t there something sweeter and saucier that he could have instead? Sure, why not. Mr. Aslam, who was known as Mr. Ali, tipped the tandoor-grilled pieces of meat into a pan with a quick tomato sauce and returned them to the table.

“He never really put so much importance on it,” Asif Ali said. “He just told people how he made it.”

Chicken tikka masala became so widespread that in 2001 Robin Cook, the British foreign secretary, delivered a speech praising the dish — and Britain for embracing it.

“Chicken tikka masala is now a true British national dish,” Mr. Cook said, referring to a survey that had placed it above fish and chips in popularity. “Not only because it is the most popular, but because it is a perfect illustration of the way Britain absorbs and adapts external influences.”

Mr. Aslam was born into a family of farmers, in a small village near Lahore. As a teenager, newly arrived to Glasgow in 1959, he took a job with his uncle in the clothing business during the day and cut onions at a local restaurant at night.

Mr. Aslam was ambitious, and he soon opened his own place in the city’s West End. He installed just a few tables and a brilliantly hot well of a tandoor oven, which he learned to man in a sweaty process of trial and error. He brought his parents over from Pakistan; his mother helped to run the kitchen, and his father took care of the front of the house.

In 1969, Mr. Aslam married Kalsoom Akhtar, who came from the same village in Pakistan. In Glasgow they raised five children. In addition to his son Asif, his survivors include his wife; their other children, Shaista Ali-Sattar, Rashaid Ali, Omar Ali and Samiya Ali; his brother Nasim Ahmed; and his sisters Bashiran Bibi and Naziran Tariq Ali.

Chicken tikka masala boomed in the curry houses of 1970s Britain. Soon it was more than just a dish you could order off the menu at every curry house, or buy packaged at the supermarket; it was a powerful political symbol.
Riaz Haq said…
37 year old practicing #Muslim #British #Pakistani Humza Yousaf wins race to replace Nicola Sturgeon as #Scotland's next leader. Humza was born in #Glasgow. His father was born in Mian Channu #Pakistan and his mother was born in #Kenya | Reuters


https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/scotlands-next-leader-be-announced-with-independence-movement-crisis-2023-03-26/

LONDON, March 27 (Reuters) - Scottish nationalists picked Humza Yousaf to be the country's next leader on Monday after a bitterly fought contest that exposed deep divisions in his party over policy and a stalled independence campaign.

The 37-year-old practicing Muslim will succeed Nicola Sturgeon as leader of the governing Scottish National Party (SNP) and, subject to a vote in the Scottish parliament, take over as head of the semi-autonomous government.

Yousaf's victory was confirmed at Edinburgh's Murrayfield rugby ground on Monday afternoon after a six-week campaign where the three candidates spent much of the contest criticising each other's record in a series of personal attacks.

The SNP's unity, which had been one of its strengths, broke down over arguments about how to achieve a second independence referendum and the best way to introduce social reforms such as transgender rights.

Yousaf takes over a party with an overriding objective to end Scotland's three-centuries-long union with England.

But while about four in 10 Scots still support independence, according to a poll this month, the departure of Sturgeon - a charismatic and commanding leader - may slow some of the momentum behind a break up of the United Kingdom.

There is no agreed strategy for how to force a new referendum - one of the reasons Sturgeon resigned.

The often bad-tempered leadership contest has relieved some pressure on British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who is dealing with divisions in his own party, waves of industrial action and high levels of inflation.

FRONTRUNNER
Yousaf won 24,336 of the votes of the SNP's members in the first round, while his main rival Kate Forbes 32, Scotland's finance minister, came second with 20,559 votes. Ash Regan, who quit the government because of her opposition to proposed changes to gender recognition, was third with 5,599 votes.

Riaz Haq said…
Watch: Muslim politician in a kilt swears oath in Urdu to British queen

By Ishaan Tharoor
May 13, 2016

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2016/05/13/watch-muslim-politician-in-a-kilt-swears-oath-in-urdu-to-british-queen/

https://youtu.be/NE_J8wzo6ko

In an emphatic demonstration of British multiculturalism, a Muslim politician elected to Scottish parliament delivered his oath of allegiance in Urdu while wearing a kilt.

Humza Yousaf, a member of the Scottish National Party who won a seat from the city of Glasgow, spoke first in English and then in the language linked to his Pakistani heritage, swearing "that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth" and concluding with "so help me God."

His party championed Scotland's unsuccessful bid for independence in 2014, framing its nationalism not on ethnic identity but on the desire for a distinct, diverse nation to have greater control over its affairs. The SNP now dominates politics in Edinburgh and has a sizable bloc of seats in Westminster as well.

On Twitter, Yousaf laughed off the predictable backlash to his oath from those fearful of the role of Islam in British society.

Yousaf was not the only politician to take the oath in another language: Other members of Scottish parliament spoke in local tongues such as Doric, Gaelic and Scots.
Riaz Haq said…
Humza Yousaf promises independence: What can new SNP leader deliver?

https://news.sky.com/story/humza-yousaf-promises-independence-what-can-new-snp-leader-deliver-12843802

Humza Yousaf made a few big promises as he succeeded Nicola Sturgeon as SNP leader - including healing divisions in his party, redoubling efforts to lift people out of poverty and, of course, Scottish independence.

On the Sky News Daily, Sally Lockwood is joined by our Scotland correspondent Connor Gillies and Shona Craven, columnist at The National, as we look at what we can expect from his leadership and discuss how he will measure up against his predecessors.

-------------


ArainGang
@ArainGang
Scotland led by Pakistani Minister Humza Yousaf, will seek independence from the United Kingdom, which is led by Indian Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.

The Subcontinent Strikes Back

https://twitter.com/ArainGang/status/1640430192006139906?s=20

Riaz Haq said…
This week marks a watershed moment in a decade of discussion of “grooming gangs”: a much-anticipated Home Office report has concluded that there is no credible evidence that any one ethnic group is over-represented in cases of child sexual exploitation.

https://amp.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/dec/19/home-office-report-grooming-gangs-not-muslim

For many in Britain today the term “grooming gang” immediately suggests Pakistani-heritage Muslim men abusing white girls, but the Home Office researchers now tell us that “research has found that group-based offenders are most commonly White”.


A powerful modern racial myth has been exploded. What started as a far-right trope had migrated into the mainstream, meeting little resistance along the way. In 2011, the Times and its chief investigative reporter, Andrew Norfolk, claimed to have uncovered a new ethnic crime threat, shrouded until then in a supposed “conspiracy of silence”.

The racial stereotype gained credence when the Quilliam Foundation, a controversial “counter-extremism” group, claimed that 84% of “grooming gang offenders” were Asian.

The “grooming gangs” narrative fed into the agenda of the far right, but it was not only there that the issue was racialised: the Labour MP Sarah Champion, for one, wrote a now notorious article in the Sun in 2017, for which she resigned as shadow equalities minister.

The two-year study by the Home Office makes very clear that there are no grounds for asserting that Muslim or Pakistani-heritage men are disproportionately engaged in such crimes, and, citing our research, it confirmed the unreliability of the Quilliam claim.



The horrific and widely reported crimes committed in places such as Rochdale, Oxford and Telford were real: but racist stereotyping and demonisation deflected from that.


The claims that “grooming gangs” were not properly investigated due to “political correctness” and a fear of being accused of racism are heavily undermined by decades of research highlighting the consistent over-policing of minority communities. What’s more, the whole history of the UK’s responses to child sexual exploitation and abuse is littered with failings – as shown by the independent inquiry into child sexual abuse, Operation Yewtree and numerous other investigations and inquiries. There were also regrettable consequences for child protection, since victims and offenders who don’t fit the stereotype can be overlooked.




This misdirected focus can be found in the Home Office report itself. Its title and executive summary both imply it covers “group-based child sexual exploitation” in the whole. But it fails to include a whole range of problems that might reasonably fit into that category, such as abuse that occurs online, and in schools, care homes and other institutions. Instead, it follows the crowd by dwelling on child sexual exploitation “in the community”. This construct is vaguely defined and poorly justified, although certainly more acceptable sounding than “grooming gangs” – the broadly equivalent term that has no legal meaning but plenty of racial and political baggage.



It might be tempting to think that, if nothing else, a decade of outrage had stimulated wider concern about child sexual exploitation. In truth, it has diverted resources and effort into wasteful paths while opportunities to address systemic barriers to prevention and improve victim support have been missed.



The claims that “grooming gangs” were not properly investigated due to “political correctness” and a fear of being accused of racism are heavily undermined by decades of research highlighting the consistent over-policing of minority communities. What’s more, the whole history of the UK’s responses to child sexual exploitation and abuse is littered with failings – as shown by the independent inquiry into child sexual abuse, Operation Yewtree and numerous other investigations and inquiries. There were also regrettable consequences for child protection, since victims and offenders who don’t fit the stereotype can be overlooked.
Riaz Haq said…
Home Secretary accused of 'parroting far-right myths' about British Pakistani men | The National

https://www.thenational.scot/news/23429688.home-secretary-accused-parroting-far-right-myths-british-pakistani-men/

Braverman’s language was condemned by Robina Qureshi, CEO of the refugee charity Positive Action in Housing (PAiH).

She called on the Home Secretary to apologise for her “gross misrepresentation”, describing her language around British Pakistani men as “unacceptable”.

The Tory MP blamed “political correctness” for authorities failing to tackle grooming gangs during a media round on Sunday morning.

The UK Government is expected to set out details on Monday of a plan to tackle grooming gangs and better protect children, which will include a consultation on introducing a mandatory duty on professionals working with children to report concerns about sexual abuse.

However, on Sunday, Braverman singled out British Pakistani men over concerns about grooming gangs as she accused authorities of turning a “blind eye” to signs of abuse over fears of being labelled “racist” or “bigoted”.

The Home Secretary said that the “systematic and institutional failure to safeguard the welfare of children when it comes to sexual abuse” was one of the biggest scandals in British history.

“What’s clear is that what we’ve seen is a practice whereby vulnerable white English girls, sometimes in care, sometimes who are in challenging circumstances, being pursued and raped and drugged and harmed by gangs of British Pakistani men who’ve worked in child abuse rings or networks,” she told the Sophy Ridge On Sunday programme on Sky News.



“It’s now down to the authorities to track these perpetrators down without fear or favour relentlessly and bring them to justice.



“We’ve seen institutions and state agencies, whether it’s social workers, teachers, the police, turn a blind eye to these signs of abuse out of political correctness, out of fear of being called racists, out of fear of being called bigoted.”

Charity boss Qureshi blasted the remarks, said they were “unacceptable” and demanded an apology for the “gross misrepresentation” of the Pakistani community.

She said: "The Home Secretary, Suella Braverman, has reached a new low.



“Her remarks are in direct contradiction to her own Department’s research, which found that most groups of child sex offenders tend to be white men under the age of 30.

“She is openly parroting far-right myths about racial groups and amplifying them into national trends.

“Her commentary is unacceptable, and I call on her to apologise for her gross misrepresentations of our communities.”

Qureshi said Braverman’s comments were “grossly offensive” to the thousands of law-abiding British Pakistanis living in the UK, and noted that newly elected First Minister of Scotland Humza Yousaf is of Pakistani descent.

“Yet she displays all the tact of a bull in a china shop,” Qureshi added.



“Her comments are tantamount to inciting racist violence which is a criminal offence. “Parliament must reign in this government minister who openly tells mistruths in the face of her own Department’s research.



“Sadly, this Home Secretary appears to be on a mission to cause as much offence as possible to those of immigrant stock, and to appease her far right voter base.

“Yet the irony for her is that the far right don’t want brown or black immigrants, or their children, or her, in this country or in positions of power.”



It comes after the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse last year described sexual abuse of children as an “epidemic that leaves tens of thousands of victims in its poisonous wake”.

The seven-year inquiry into institutional failings in England and Wales concluded that people in positions of trust should be compelled by law to report child sexual abuse.

The report found that there was currently “a marked absence of a cohesive set of laws and procedures in England and in Wales that require individuals working with children to report child sexual abuse”.
Riaz Haq said…
Mohammad Ramzan falsely accused in grooming case

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-cumbria-64950862

A woman who falsely claimed she was raped by multiple men and trafficked by an Asian grooming gang has been jailed for eight-and-a-half years.

Eleanor Williams sparked protests in her Cumbrian home town of Barrow after posting photos on social media of injuries she said were from beatings.

But Preston Crown Court heard she inflicted the wounds herself using a hammer.

Williams, 22, was found guilty of perverting the course of justice.

A two-day sentencing hearing was told three men Williams falsely accused over a three-year period tried to take their own lives after being targeted and suffering "hell on earth".

Riaz Haq said…
Craig Murray -
@CraigMurrayOrg
This is incredible. The Home Office's own extensive study found that there is no ethnic group particularly involved in paedophile grooming, and that most organised paedophile groups are white.
Braverman is truly disgusting.

https://twitter.com/CraigMurrayOrg/status/1642656137928404993?s=20

https://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/2020/dec/analysis-new-home-office-report-admits-grooming-gangs-are-not-muslim-problem

The study finds no credible evidence for a far-right stereotype that has spread widely in the media, writes Dr Ella Cockbain (UCL Security & Crime Science) in an article co-authored with Dr Waqas Tufail for The Guardian.

Riaz Haq said…
What’s Not on Sunak’s To-Do List? Ending Racism
Analysis by Pankaj Mishra | Bloomberg

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/whats-not-on-sunaks-to-do-list-ending-racism/2022/10/26/a467421c-54fc-11ed-ac8b-08bbfab1c5a5_story.html

Two weeks ago, the United Kingdom was thrown into economic chaos by Kwasi Kwarteng, its first Black chancellor of the Exchequer. A floundering Tory party has now tasked Rishi Sunak, the UK’s first Brown prime minister, to clean up the mess. But racial progress, let alone political and economic stability, is not in sight yet.

Sunak’s biography (he moved straight from Oxford to Goldman Sachs and then Stanford University and hedge funds) belongs quintessentially to the rarefied world of metropolitan globalization. What is remarkable about Sunak and Kwarteng, the Eton-educated son of Ghanaian immigrants, is that they entered a gilded global class with a swiftness and assurance that would have been inconceivable to those who first arrived in Britain from its former colonies in the 1950s and 1960s.

Writing to his wife in 1953, V.S. Naipaul, a Hindu from Trinidad who became arguably Britain’s greatest postwar writer, described how he, though Oxford-educated, was considered only “for jobs as porters in kitchens, and with the road gangs.” Humiliation and despair remained commonplace experiences for people who emigrated to Britain decades after Naipaul and who worked, proverbially, twice as hard to get half as far as White Britons. Sunak, whose middle-class parents paid for him to go to snotty Winchester College, admitted in an interview in 2020 that racist abuse “stings in a way that very few other things have.”

But individual escapes from collective dishonor — through hedge-funding or marriage into a billionaire’s family — don’t amount to general social progress. Hopes that Sunak’s move to 10 Downing Street has brought closer a post-racial future may prove as cruelly premature as the fantasies ignited by Barack Obama’s elevation to the White House in 2008.

For one, Sunak’s task seems impossible. He is expected to salvage a society, politics and economy profoundly damaged by his own party’s openly racist and mendacious campaign for Brexit. In the contest for prime-ministership last month, Tory party members rejected Sunak, despite the fact that his opponent, Liz Truss, was a self-proclaimed “thrill-seeker,” who loved to “embrace the chaos.”

The overwhelmingly White and elderly Tories chose an obviously loose cannon to be prime minister at least partly because Sunak has, as he himself confessed good-humoredly during his campaign, a “great tan.” Last week, a large proportion of them wanted Boris Johnson to return. As their mortgages rise and their pensions shrink, they might decide that the first Hindu and richest prime minister ever is as much of an undesirable imposition as the first Black chancellor, chosen by Truss to unleash chaos in the UK.
Riaz Haq said…

What’s Not on Sunak’s To-Do List? Ending Racism
Analysis by Pankaj Mishra | Bloomberg

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/whats-not-on-sunaks-to-do-list-ending-racism/2022/10/26/a467421c-54fc-11ed-ac8b-08bbfab1c5a5_story.html

In any case, a few over-promoted non-White people are by no means guaranteed to diminish mainstream prejudice against the great majority of their compatriots. Marrying Prince Harry, Meghan Markle was widely supposed to nudge Britain as well as the Royal Family into accepting a multi-racial future. As it happened, the arrival of a dark-skinned princess in Buckingham Palace provoked Britain’s race-baiting press into a frenzy, forcing her to leave the country altogether.

Britain’s xenophobic political and media culture is more willing to accommodate those who indulge its basest instincts, such as the two successive Tory Home secretaries of Indian origin, Priti Patel and Suella Braverman. They stridently advertised their loathing of immigration and risked breaking international law with their scheme to deport asylum-seekers to Rwanda. “I would love to have a front page of the Telegraph with a plane taking off to Rwanda,” Braverman claimed at the Tory party conference early this month, shortly before she was sacked by Truss for breaching a ministerial code. “That’s my dream, it’s my obsession.” The daughter of immigrants from the Indian states of Tamil Nadu and Goa, Braverman nearly derailed the UK’s trade deal with India by complaining that it would increase immigration from her parents’ homeland.

Undoubtedly, the Tory party, long stigmatized as “nasty,” needs a fresh identity and purpose. And Sunak, the son of Hindu immigrants from Africa, could awaken his peers to an irrevocably interdependent world.

But Sunak is unlikely to vacate their hard-right positions: He campaigned for Brexit, fully supports the Rwanda policy and has just reappointed Braverman as Home secretary. There are good reasons to suspect that he would retard rather than accelerate Britain’s much-needed transition to a sober state of mind.

He revealed during his summer campaign for prime minister that he is not above stoking culture wars against those Braverman last week denounced as “tofu-eating wokerati.” Indeed, facing a long economic recession with diminishing resources and no popular mandate, Sunak may have little choice. Uncontrollable economic crises are pushing traditional right-wing politicians everywhere into demagogic rhetoric about immigrants, wokeness, cancel culture and more.

Celebrations over a Hindu’s ascent to the UK’s highest political office are thus misplaced. Sunak, too, could end up merely proving, like his recent Tory colleagues of Indian ancestry, that some colored folks are prepared to work twice as hard as White people to demonstrate their hard-right credentials.
Riaz Haq said…
Braverman words on British Pakistani men discriminatory: Pakistan
Pakistani official says UK home secretary’s remarks signal ‘intent to target and treat British Pakistanis differently’.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/4/5/braverman-words-on-british-pakistani-men-discriminatory-pakistan

Pakistan’s foreign office has criticised British Home Secretary Suella Braverman for “discriminatory and xenophobic” comments after she said that British Pakistani men “hold cultural values at odds with British values”.

In an interview with Sky News on Monday, Braverman also alleged British Pakistani men worked in child abuse rings or networks that targeted “vulnerable white English girls”.


Pakistan’s foreign office spokesperson Mehnaz Baloch on Wednesday condemned Braverman’s remarks which, he said, painted a “highly misleading picture signalling the intent to target and treat British Pakistanis differently”.

Baloch said Braverman had “erroneously branded criminal behaviour of some individuals as a representation of the entire community”.

“She fails to take note of the systemic racism and ghettoisation of communities and omits to recognise the tremendous cultural, economic and political contributions that British Pakistanis continue to make in British society,” Baloch said in her weekly briefing in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad.

A British Home Office report on group-based child sexual abuse published in 2020 pointed out that research on offender ethnicity is limited, and tends to rely on poor-quality data.

However, it did highlight studies that show white men as being the majority of offenders, in comparison with Asian or Black men.

The report’s findings were pointed out to Braverman during the interview, but she went on to say that British Pakistani men “see women in a demeaned and illegitimate way and who pursue an outdated and frankly heinous approach in terms of the way they behave”.

Braverman’s comments have received a backlash on social media, with users saying the remarks will mislead the public and “incite violence against those with particular racial characteristics”.


Riaz Haq said…
Watch: Braverman dubbed a ‘Trump tribute act’ following grooming comments
'I am calling her rhetoric racist, I am', Tory peer Baroness Sayeeda Warsi said.


https://www.thelondoneconomic.com/politics/watch-braverman-dubbed-a-trump-tribute-act-following-grooming-comments-346597/

Suella Braverman has been labelled a “Trump tribute act” following her divisive rhetoric on child sexual exploitation.

The home secretary pointed to a “predominance of certain ethnic groups – and I say British Pakistani males – who hold cultural values totally at odds with British values, who see women in a demeaned and illegitimate way and pursue an outdated and frankly heinous approach in terms of the way they behave” in a speech.

She also claimed that victims and whistle-blowers were ignored “due to cultural sensitivity and political correctness’’, a claim challenged in many reports including the Operation Linden Report, published in June 2022.

Writing in response to the comments, a number of health organisations have criticised the home secretary’s rhetoric in the strongest possible terms.

An open letter reads:

“It is unacceptable for the Home Secretary to use inflammatory and divisive rhetoric that is sensationalist and contradicts her own department’s evidence.


-----


LBC
@LBC
'I am calling her rhetoric racist, I am.'

Tory peer Baroness
@SayeedaWarsi
condemns Suella Braverman's language and tells
@mrjamesob
we need a grown-up as Home Secretary, not a 'Trump tribute act'.

https://twitter.com/LBC/status/1645760611656118272?s=20
Riaz Haq said…
As of 2016, there were 12,454 Pakistani doctors and 45,830 Indian doctors out of 215,630 total in the United States.


https://stats.oecd.org/Index.aspx?QueryId=68336

India 45,830

Pakistan 12,454

Grenada 10,789

Philipines 10,217

Dominica 9,974

Mexico 9,923

Canada 7,765

Dominican Republic 6,269

China 5,772

UAE 4,635

Egypt 4,379

------------

Total Foreign Doctors in UK 66,211

India 18,953

Pakistan 8,026

Nigeria 4,880

Egypt 4,471

Foreign Doctors in Canada 25,400:

South Africa 2,604

India 2,127

Ireland 1,942

UK 1,923


US 1,263


Pakistan 1,087
Riaz Haq said…
#British #Pakistani elected Mayor of #Bolton, #UK. Ayub was born in the small village of Ghora, Kotli, Azad #Kashmir. He came from #Pakistan to Bolton in 1972 at age 15. He worked #textile mills, #manufacturing & transport sector & local gov't
https://www.bolton.gov.uk/councillors-mayor/mayor#:~:text=The%20Mayor%20of%20Bolton%20for,1972%20at%20the%20age%2015.

Ayub was born in the small village of Ghora, Kotli, Azad Kashmir. He came to live in Bolton in 1972 at the age 15.

Ayub has worked in various sectors including Textile mills, manufacturing, commercial and later in the transport sector and local government for last 40 years.

Ayub was elected to Bolton Council in 2006 and has represented Great Lever Ward for the last 17 years. He has served as Vice Chairman of the Planning Committee, Cabinet member for Highways & Transport, Audit, Corporate and Place scrutiny Committee. He has also served as a Governor of Bolton Islamic Girls School.

Mohammed Ayub will be the first Bolton Mayor of Kashmiri origin and is exceptionally proud to be Bolton’s First Citizen. Ayub has chosen his wife Zaibun Nisa to be his Mayoress, they have been married for 45 years. Originally born in Pakistan, Zaibun has lived in the UK for many years. They have 6 beautiful children and 14 grandchildren.

Riaz Haq said…
British Pakistani billionaire Anwar Pervez has a net worth of £3.1 billion.

Born in Rawalpindi, Pervez moved to the UK when he was 21 years old. He became a bus conductor in Bradford, working seven days a week and earning up to £18.

This eventually led to Pervez opening up his first convenience store, Kashmir, for the Muslim community in London.

https://www.desiblitz.com/content/pakistani-billionaires-living-in-the-uk#:~:text=The%20most%20popular%20and%20successful,earning%20up%20to%20%C2%A318.
Riaz Haq said…
The UK Government data on British household wealth (April 2016 to March 2018) by ethnicity shows that Pakistani household median wealth is £224,500, the second highest after British White and Indian household median wealth of just over £313,000

https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/personalandhouseholdfinances/incomeandwealth/articles/householdwealthbyethnicitygreatbritain/april2016tomarch2018


White households median £313,900 mean £590,400
Indian households median £313,200 mean £493,800
Pakistani households median £224,500 mean £302,100
Chinese households median £77,300 mean £348,400
Bangladeshi households median £65,600 mean £141,100
Other Asian households median £162,100 mean £367,800
Black Caribbean households median £85,900 mean £379,200
Riaz Haq said…

Higher education as the pathway to personal and community success for Pakistani and Bangladeshi people: A systematic review

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13613324.2021.1997976


By Shames MaskeenORCID Icon,Jacob Matthews,Debbie M. Smith,Helen J. Stain &Lisa. A. D. Webster


Amalgamated, Pakistanis and Bangladeshis have been found to have higher HE participation rates (53%) than the White British group (36%) but lower than the Black (amalgamated; 57%) and Indian (72%) groups (Allen, Parameshwaran, and Thomson Citation2016). However, when analysed separately, Pakistanis (56.5%) are less likely to progress to HE than Bangladeshis (64.9%) at all HE institutions by age 19 (Hubble, Bolton, and Lewis Citation2021). Reasons for combining ethnic groups for analysis include small sample sizes and preliminary identification of similar rates of HE applications (Boliver Citation2013). Thus, it is often difficult in the literature to differentiate the HE participation decision between Pakistanis and Bangladeshis.
Riaz Haq said…
UK's most diverse parliament welcomes 15 British-Pakistani MPs

https://www.thenews.com.pk/latest/1206906-uks-most-diverse-parliament-welcomes-15-british-pakistani-mps

Notably, there are now 15 British-Pakistani members of parliament, with four of them serving for the first time, Reuters reported.

Labour Party's Afzal Khan, Imran Hussain, Naz Shah, Yasmin Qureshi, Muhammad Yasin, Tahir Ali, Shabana Mahmood, Zarah Sultana, Dr Zubir Ahmed, Naushabah Khan, Dr Rosena Allin-Khan claimed victory in the election.

Additionally, independent candidates Ayoub Khan and Adnan Hussain, as well as Conservative candidates Saqib Bhatti and Nusrat Ghani, secured victories in the election, contributing to the increased diversity in Parliament.

------------------

British Pakistani Shabana Mahmood appointed Lord Chancellor, Justice Secretary in UK PM Starmer's cabinet

LONDON: British-Pakistani Kashmiri-origin Birmingham MP Shabana Mahmood was named as Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice in the new Labour government, Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s office confirmed on Friday.

Mahmood was the fourth former shadow minister to walk into Downing Street following Starmer's appointment as prime minister. She will be the first observant Muslim and only the second woman to assume the ancient office of lord chancellor.

Her parents hail from Mirpur, Azad Kashmir. She is a fluent speaker of Urdu and Mirpuri.

Mahmood was born and brought up in Birmingham and called to the bar at Grays Inn after studying on a scholarship. In practice, she specialised in professional indemnity cases. She was appointed shadow justice secretary in September last year.

Her previous shadow ministerial roles included spells at home affairs, business and as shadow chief secretary to the Treasury.

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