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Thursday March 28, 2024

PML-N supports Scottish nationalists against ex-governor’s son

LONDON: Pakistani politics has made its way into the UK general elections as rivals in Pakistan are openly opposing each other in several constituencies here. Former Punjab governor Muhammad Sarwar, who recently joined Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf, came to UK nearly a month ago to campaign for his son, Anas Sarwar, who

By Murtaza Ali Shah
May 07, 2015
LONDON: Pakistani politics has made its way into the UK general elections as rivals in Pakistan are openly opposing each other in several constituencies here.
Former Punjab governor Muhammad Sarwar, who recently joined Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf, came to UK nearly a month ago to campaign for his son, Anas Sarwar, who is defending his Labour Party seat in Glasgow Central against the surge of Scottish Nationalist Party (SNP) whose candidate against Anas is Alison Thewliss.
Pakistan Muslim League (UK) has told its supporters in Glasgow Central not to vote for Anas Sarwar and instead support the Scottish nationalists. PML-N leader in UK Zubair Gull told The News that he was acting on his own to “appeal to Pakistanis to vote for the Scottish nationalists who have been very supportive of Pakistan. I am not campaigning against Anas Sarwar but we are asking for tactical voting across the party divide. We are supporting all parties, depending on the constituencies and in Glasgow Central we think SNP victory will have a positive impact. We were approached by Scottish Pakistani leader Hamza Yousuf who asked for our help in this constituency.”
Gull denied that he was asking voters in Glasgow Central to vote against Muhammad Sarwar’s son on behest of the PML-N leadership in Pakistan. “Our local party had decided to support SNP and it is our independent choice. They can vote anyone as per their democratic choice and we will not dictate them as that will be undemocratic.”
Anas Sarwar, the former Scottish Labour deputy leader, is a popular Labour figure who quickly rose to the party ranks and has been called a rising star of the party but the surge of SNP in Scotland in recent months have caused him worries. There are around 60,000 voters in the constituency and ethnic minorities have a share of around 10,000 votes. Pakistani voters in this constituency are the largest group - around 8,000 votes. They mainly voted for Muhamamd Sarwar and Anas Sarwar but in the election happening today, PTI in Scotland is supporting Anas Sarwar with full vigour while PML-N is going against him because of the fact that Muhammad Sarwar defected to the PTI a few months ago - a decision which caused humiliation to the PML-N leadership who faced lots of opposition from within and outside when they decided to appoint the former Labour MP as the governor of the biggest province of Pakistan. As fate would have it, PTI in Scotland had held demonstration against Muhammad Sarwar when he came to Pakistan to support the joint party campaign, which succeeded in defeating the ‘No’ campaign which wanted independence from Britain.
Anas Sarwar was not available to comment but Tahir Inaam Sheikh, a close aide of Muhamamd Sarwar, told The News that PML-N’s campaign against Anas in Glasgow Central is “of no significance”.
He added: “Sarwars have a long history of serving the local community wholeheartedly. They have won many battles against the odds and it will be no different this time. The race is no doubt tight but Anas Sarwar will win comfortably as he has the support of all local communities, including Pakistanis and other ethnic minorities.”
Separately, PTI Azad Kashmir leader Barrister Sultan Mahmood is running campaigns in various constituencies for candidates from the Labour, Liberal Democrats and Tories.
He told The News that he was meeting candidates to appeal to them to support the cause of Kashmir. Barrister Sultan said he was only concerned about the issue of Kashmir and would like the winning candidates and parties to hold the “Indian government accountable for violation of human rights of Kashmiris at a mass scale”.
Muttahidda Qaumi Movement (MQM) would like to see George Galloway lose to Naz Shah in Bradford West. Officials of the party have sent their best wishes to British Pakistani campaigner Naz Shah who has strongly challenged Galloway in Bradford West. Galloway has lately issued statements against the MQM leader on social media and the MQM has responded with asking Pakistani community to “oust” the “absentee” Galloway.