London, 29 March 2026.
Notes.
Thanks to Mushtaq Lasharie.
– Honour to be invited to speak here
– Want to make a few points about the significance of this for me
– Today we have so many councillors, mayors and deputy mayors from the Pakistani community – currently serving or those who have previously served the community in this way.
– I spent many years of my working life as a journalist.
– As Political Editor of weekly Asian Times
– And as Editor of the English language section of the Daily Awaz International
– When I started this work, fulltime in 1983, the last Asian MP in the UK had been Shapurji Saklatvala back in the 1920s.
– There was just a sprinkling of councillors from the Asian community in the whole country.
– The first Asian MP or Mayor was still a few years away.
– Whilst the struggle for equality and against racism remains an ongoing one, the turnout at today’s lunch shows how far we have come in achieving representation thanks to the tireless efforts of all you and of so many others up and down the country over successive decades.
– My journalistic work obviously saw me making many lifelong friends in the Pakistani community and the wider Asian community more generally.
– I’ve known Mushtaq and members of his family since 1985.
– And it was through my friendship, and close working relationship, with Mushtaq, and with the kind assistance of the Pakistan High Commission, that in the autumn of 2017, I was finally able to visit Pakistan.
– Over the years, I’ve travelled to many parts of Asia, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, North and South America and the Caribbean.
– But my visit to Pakistan, together with Mushtaq, was really one of the most special, and the country will always have a special place in my heart.
– The hospitality and kindness, and the meticulous arrangements, were all truly exceptional, whether from those in high positions or in humble walks of life.
– Pakistan, like every country in the world, has its problems. Its politics can be very complex. At times tempestuous and even cruel.
– But whilst this might sometimes seem to be the whole story for the western media it is not in fact the whole story.
– Pakistan is a country of more than 275 million people. The fourth or fifth most populous in the world. Having giant neighbours like China and India this is too often forgotten.
– The Pakistani people are hard working, talented and kind.
– With a middle class of probably more than 50 million people it is a huge consumer market.
– Textiles, sports goods, medical equipment, food processing, chemical, cement and engineering industries, and infrastructure all present major opportunities. Including for our British Pakistani business community.
– I think all of us here should be ambassadors for Britain-Pakistan friendship and be the bridge linking the two nations.
– My own interest in Asia really began with China. I studied Chinese History and Politics at SOAS. A long time ago.
– So my visit to Pakistan was really to understand more about CPEC and to look at its progress.
– From the port of Gwadar and the provincial capital of Quetta in Balochistan to the Karot hydropower plant north of the capital Islamabad, I saw how the long years of friendship between Pakistan and China were bearing fruit in terms of development, people’s livelihood and people-to-people friendship.
– I met Baloch students who had studied on scholarships in China. And I met Chinese engineers and technicians wearing salwar kameez and speaking Urdu.
– Of course, we are all aware that we meet today at a significant and critical political moment.
– Many of you will have taken time out from political campaigning to be here.
– The local elections that will take place throughout London, and across much of the country, along with those to the Scottish and Welsh parliaments, to be held on May 7, may this year have a far greater national political significance than is normally the case.
– As this is a cross party gathering I will say nothing more on this today.
– Of course, there is something far more important than whatever might happen on May 7 that I am sure is on the minds of all of us today. Just as it is on the minds of people throughout the world.
– And that is the intensified conflict in the Middle East, and indeed right on the land and sea borders of Pakistan, triggered by the illegal and unprovoked US-Israeli aggression against Iran.
– So many innocent civilians are losing their lives. Not least the more than 170 people, the overwhelming majority of them young schoolgirls, slaughtered in the US bombing of the Shajareh Tayyebeh Elementary School on the first day of the aggression.
– The conflict is spilling over throughout the entire region.
– And it is already wreaking havoc on the global economy. Something that will disproportionately affect the most vulnerable and fragile countries and societies and the poorest people on earth.
– I think we should all commend the great efforts that Pakistan is making for peace.
– At present, Iran and the United States cannot even agree on whether or not they are talking with each other.
– Hardly surprising considering that twice in less than a year, Iran has been attacked in the middle of their negotiating in good faith.
– But what we do know is that Pakistan is calmly and patiently liaising with both sides.
– Just as it did with China and the United States at the start of the 1970s, helping bring to fruition President Nixon’s historic visit in February 1972 that changed the world.
– Once again, we can see that even if Pakistan faces challenges in its own politics, economy and regional security, it is a responsible mid-level power that commands respect for its skillful diplomacy on the world stage.
– Let us hope that Pakistan’s efforts at this time will be successful.
– And the sooner the better.
– The alternative may be too awful to contemplate.
– Thank you for listening.
