News
Monday, June 11, 2012
British media portrays PML-N as volatile, anti-US* Report links PML-N office-bearers to last year’s protest against Obama’s visit
* Media trying to equate PML-N with Hizbut Tahrir
By Asif Mehmood
LONDON: PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif and Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif in the days to come could face the wrath of the British media as the PML-N is being portrayed as a volatile anti-American party, citing a specific protest against US President Barack Obama during his visit to the UK.
According to a report published in The Sunday Telegraph, PML-N’s UK Youth Wing President Anjum Chaudhry organised a protest outside parliament in May last year against President Obama’s state visit. In February last year, Baroness Sayeeda Warsi travelled to Pakistan on government business and, in the course of the trip to Lahore, opened the Office for Overseas Pakistanis and British Nationals, which she said “works with the police forces across the UK and British consular services on issues such as forced marriage and kidnapping”.
However, The Sunday Telegraph has established that the office is operated from the premises of an opposition party (PML-N), whose British arm organised a protest against the US policy when President Obama visited Britain. In the UK, the office, based in the party’s headquarters in Rumford, east London, is headed by the PML-N’s UK president, Zubair Gull, and shares several members of staff.
Barrister Abid Hussain’s presence on Lady Warsi’s trip in February last year to Lahore was disclosed by the Conservative chairman last week. He was present when she opened the Office for Overseas Pakistanis and British Nationals. Hussain appears to be involved in the organisation, appearing in a number of photographs on its website. The British Foreign Office described the organisation last week as a “private initiative” and as a “charity” that “helps British nationals overseas”. However, The Sunday Telegraph has established that the organisation is run by a political party (PML-N), headed by a former Pakistani prime minister (Nawaz Sharif) and his brother (Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif).
It is unclear whether Baroness Warsi knew the organisation appears to be political, rather than charitable.
During the Lahore event, attended by Nawaz Sharif, Hussain and Baroness Warsi were pictured with Anjum Chaudhry, the president of PML-N’s UK Youth Wing.
The British media not only accused Baroness Warsi of being business shareholder of Abid Hussain, a person who has admitted his involvement with the extremist group Hizbut Tahrir, but is also trying to equate PML-N with Hizut Tahrir by establishing links of Abid Hussain with the Pakistan’s second biggest political party.
The nature of Hussain’s involvement in the radical party has already prompted questions over the extent of security vetting. He has twice accompanied Lady Warsi on trips to Pakistan, and has also been pictured in the House of Lords at a reception for her.
In the early 1990s, sources say, Hussain joined Hizbut Tahrir and was nicknamed “Strapper” by other students because of his bulky frame. He lived for a time in one of its London houses, studying the radical form of Islam taught by its then leader Omar Bakri Mohammed, who is now banned from Britain.
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk