PM’s speech in Bradford laden with risks

LONDON: In a high-risk move, Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf will address a gathering of Pakistanis in Bradford, the English city dubbed ‘little Pakistan’ or ‘Bradfordistan’ as more than quarter of a million Pakistanis live in the Westyorskshire town.
The PM arrived in London on Saturday and will remain here till 13th February. Pakistan People’s Party locally in Bradford is split on ‘baradri’ lines and it’s local leaders, including the Bradford president and other leaders, took oath a few days ago to boycott any event organised by Pakistan High Commission. These leaders are furious over the decision of Pakistan High Commission to streamline its visa services. These leaders have publicly announced to stage a sit-in outside Pakistan High Commission and its consulates in coming days.
These diehard leaders have been campaigning against the visit of PM Ashraf to Bradford and many of them, secretly, have called and texted Pakistani community members to hold a protest outside the venue. With so much campaigning and division at the local level, it is feared that some elements may create unpleasant situation during the PM’s speech, which will be disastrous in terms of publicity and could lead to clashes amongst Pakistani groups.
The ‘baradri’ element has also kicked into this toxic mix as a significant number of Gujarkhanis live locally who will turn out in huge numbers and they fear that members of another ‘baradri’ have been trying to spoil the visit of PM Raja. It is understood that various organisations of Raja ‘baradri’ have called on their members to gather in the town to welcome PM Raja Ashraf and also to deal with any situation.
Chaudhry Malik and Tariq Ayub Rathore, local PPP leaders, said that “un-invited guests” will not be allowed to enter the Hilton Hotel in Bradford where the event has been organised. He tried to downplay the role of local PPP in initiating a movement against their own party’s prime minister: “I am responsible for issuing 80 percent of the tickets. How can PPP activists go against their own party. We are expecting around 1000 people to attend the reception. “
According to PHC officials Bradford rally is being organized to meet with the Pakistani community living outside London and to know about their problems and issues so that the same could be solved. Besides, the prime minister will also be inaugurating Machine Readable Passport Centre at Bradford Consulate, which is the longstanding demand of the Pakistani community living in Bradford.
It was in September 2009 in Birmingham when a Pakistan man tried to attack President Asif Ali Zardari during his speech before at least 1000 Pakistanis. The man was arrested and bailed by the police.
In November 2011, former Sindh Home Minister and PPP leader Dr Zulfikar Mirza and Lord Nazir Ahmed were attacked in Manchester by a gang of youth. The greater Manchester Police had arrested three Asian men who, it is believed, were linked to Prime Minister of Azad Kashmir Chaudhry Majeed and Chaudhry Yasin, a senior minister in the PPP government, but there is no suggestion that the two leaders had anything personally to do with this attack.
A spokesman at the Westyorkshire Police said that the force was aware of the “planned visit” of Pakistani PM to the town but he refused to discuss details of the police operations for the day. He confirmed that a “police operation will be in place” but feared that discussing the policing details may “jeopardise the operation.”
A Pakistani delegation source told The News that “peaceful protest is the basic right of the people and democratic government of Pakistan firmly believes in basic liberties” and “the security is being provided by the host country.”