Ed Miliband launches ‘Labour Friends of Pakistan’

LONDON: Opposition leader in the British Parliament Ed Miliband has extended condolences to Pakistani people on the killing of more than two-dozen Pakistani soldiers when they were attacked by US-led Nato/Isaf soldiers and caused outrage in Pakistan.
At the launch of the Labour Friends of Pakistan group here at a hotel, the Labour leader said: “We all deeply regret the killing of Pakistani soldiers and its right that the American administration has said it will hold a full inquiry into what happened. We obviously mourn the death of those soldiers and its very right to do so.”
The Labour Friends of Pakistan will be led by entrepreneur Faiz Rasool, a long-standing Labour campaigner, who will work towards building further relations between Pakistan and the UK.
Shadow Cabinet Ministers Harriet Harman, ED Balls, Tessa Jowell, Yvette Cooper, Stephen Twigg, Sadiq Khan, Jim Murphy, Angela Eagle, Caroline Flint, Rachel Reeves, Liam Byrne, Peter Hain, and parliamentarians Lord Nazir Ahmed, Sir Ghulam Noon, Lord Roy Kennedy, Lord Ray Collins, Khalid Mahmood, Shabana Mahmood, Labour Party Secretary General Iain McNicol, Roshanra Ali, Lord Falconer, former London Mayor Ken Livingstone, Pakistan’s High Commissioner to the UK Wajid Shamsul Hasan and UK Pakistan Chamber of Commerce & Industries President Qamar Raza attended the event.
Ed Miliband, the younger brother of former Foreign Secretary David Miliband, said he was launching the “important initiative” to express thanks to Pakistani and Muslim communities for their Labour support.
“We, as a party, hugely value the contribution made by Muslims right across the UK, the contribution they make to the British way of life, we value the contribution they make to our party.