Wife prods but politics keeps London mayor from Pak visit

LONDON: London Mayor Boris Johnson reveals his wife has been pestering him to visit Pakistan but he is unable to fulfill her wish because of heavy political engagements.
But the charismatic London mayor said he will be visiting Pakistan after the elections are over. In an exclusive interview with Geo News here, Boris Johnson revealed that his wife was originally from Pakistan.
“My wife originates from Pakistan; she is a Sikh and her parents are from Sargodha. She has been asking me to visit Pakistan for so long and unfortunately I was unable to visit Pakistan, but I intend to visit this amazing country soon.
By the way my friend Peter Oborne (cricket writer and political analyst) is upset with me too that I haven’t been to Pakistan and I have promised him too that Pakistan visit will be on my priority list after the elections are over.”
The London mayor spoke to Geo News during his visit to a mosque in west London along with the former Tory MP Rehman Chishti who is again standing on the Conservative party ticket. Mr. Chishti was adviser to the former slain Prime Minister Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto and has also been advising Bilawal Bhutto.
The London mayor said he will be visiting Pakistan to promote trade between London and Pakistan.
He paid tribute to over 300,000 Pakistanis who live in different parts of London. “British Pakistanis are the wheels of our economy’s engine like so many other nationalities who work hard day and night to drive our country forward.
There is a huge potential of trade between Pakistan and London and we need to focus on that and I am quite willing to do everything I can on that front. Pakistan is an amazing country of amazing people.”
Boris Johnson said Pakistanis should vote for the Conservative party because they shared same values and believe in the same principles. He said the coming elections were important because Britain was passing through a critical phase and needed continuity.
Boris Johnson insisted that an alternative word needed to be found to describe extremists such as ISIS who claim to act in the name of Islam. Boris Johnson said his own great-grandfather was a Muslim and he believed that Islam means peace to others.
He said characterization of all Muslims as extremists and calling terrorist groups such as ‘Islamic State’ was unacceptable and the whole narrative needs to be changed.
He suggested labeling the extremists as criminals, bandits or Mafia without the word ‘Islam’ or ‘Islamic’ attached to them.
Boris Johnson said Islamophobia posed a serious problem to cohesion and multiculturalism in Britain and it was important all parties and organisations united to defeat this menace.
Rehman Chishti said Pakistanis should come out in full force and cash their votes to increase their influence in British politics.