ajpirzada
SENIOR MEMBER
- Joined
- Mar 4, 2008
- Messages
- 6,011
- Reaction score
- 11
- Country
- Location
Friday, May 01, 2009
By Rauf Klasra
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani is said to have refused to enter into a quiet ìdealî with the visiting British Prime Minister Gordon Brown to sign an MoU to help him deal with the embarrassing issue of the arrested Pakistani students, in exchange for massive financial and other concessions to Islamabad.
Without getting much impressed with the efforts of the visiting PM Brown, Gilani is believed to have told him that instead he should ensure that these 10 Pakistani students should not be deported once their innocence was established in the court of Law.
Top diplomatic sources have now claimed that Pakistan leadership knew very well that the visiting PM Brown was rushing to Islamabad only to save the crucial votes of two million Muslims, including one million Pakistanis living in the UK, who would play a major role in the next election in the UK. The likely shift in the voting pattern of these Muslims and Pakistanis was something which the Labour party could not afford at this stage when the country would soon be going to new elections.
The sources said the shocking arrests of the Pakistani students on cooked up charges, has already led these Muslims and Pakistanis to distance themselves from the Labour party to which otherwise they always voted for its moderate policies unlike the Tory party.
The sources said during the negotiations on this crucial issue of MoU, PM Gilani was repeatedly requested by visiting Prime Minister Brown to reach an understanding.. Brown was keen that Gilani should announce a major breakthrough on the issue of an extradition treaty between the two countries so that he may go back and tell his own people that he had achieved something significant from Islamabad. But Gilani was in a defiant mood as he was of the view that these Pakistanis were subjected to humiliation and Pakistanis were being targeted there without any proof.
Gilani was confident during the talks, particularly after he came to know that the strong British judicial system had foiled the attempts of the British authorities to implicate the innocent students with the terrorist plot which never existed at all.
Brown was said to have read out a long list of those concessions which he could have offered to Islamabad. In exchange for these concessions and financial help, Brown was said to be asking PM Gilani to announce singing of the new MoU to deal with the issue of the Pakistani students.
The sources said Gilani was properly briefed by his team who knew that at this stage Brown was facing a lot of pressure from within as he was trapped by his Police department and agencies on whose assurances he made a shocking statement that a ìhuge terrorist plot was unearthedî.
The sources said this unwise statement on the part of PM Brown had greatly damaged his own credibility in the eyes of the British people in general and Muslims in particular who in the past have traditionally been voting in favour of the Labour Party.
Talking to The News, Foreign Office spokesman Abdul Basit confirmed that the issue of Pakistani students was raised during the talks between the visiting Prime Minister Brown and PM Gilani. Basit said there was also talks about the MoU on extradition and torturing the deportees. When asked whether PM Gilani was offered concessions to Pakistan in case this MoU was signed, he replied ìnot to my knowledgeî.
Browns deal on students turned down by Gilani
By Rauf Klasra
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani is said to have refused to enter into a quiet ìdealî with the visiting British Prime Minister Gordon Brown to sign an MoU to help him deal with the embarrassing issue of the arrested Pakistani students, in exchange for massive financial and other concessions to Islamabad.
Without getting much impressed with the efforts of the visiting PM Brown, Gilani is believed to have told him that instead he should ensure that these 10 Pakistani students should not be deported once their innocence was established in the court of Law.
Top diplomatic sources have now claimed that Pakistan leadership knew very well that the visiting PM Brown was rushing to Islamabad only to save the crucial votes of two million Muslims, including one million Pakistanis living in the UK, who would play a major role in the next election in the UK. The likely shift in the voting pattern of these Muslims and Pakistanis was something which the Labour party could not afford at this stage when the country would soon be going to new elections.
The sources said the shocking arrests of the Pakistani students on cooked up charges, has already led these Muslims and Pakistanis to distance themselves from the Labour party to which otherwise they always voted for its moderate policies unlike the Tory party.
The sources said during the negotiations on this crucial issue of MoU, PM Gilani was repeatedly requested by visiting Prime Minister Brown to reach an understanding.. Brown was keen that Gilani should announce a major breakthrough on the issue of an extradition treaty between the two countries so that he may go back and tell his own people that he had achieved something significant from Islamabad. But Gilani was in a defiant mood as he was of the view that these Pakistanis were subjected to humiliation and Pakistanis were being targeted there without any proof.
Gilani was confident during the talks, particularly after he came to know that the strong British judicial system had foiled the attempts of the British authorities to implicate the innocent students with the terrorist plot which never existed at all.
Brown was said to have read out a long list of those concessions which he could have offered to Islamabad. In exchange for these concessions and financial help, Brown was said to be asking PM Gilani to announce singing of the new MoU to deal with the issue of the Pakistani students.
The sources said Gilani was properly briefed by his team who knew that at this stage Brown was facing a lot of pressure from within as he was trapped by his Police department and agencies on whose assurances he made a shocking statement that a ìhuge terrorist plot was unearthedî.
The sources said this unwise statement on the part of PM Brown had greatly damaged his own credibility in the eyes of the British people in general and Muslims in particular who in the past have traditionally been voting in favour of the Labour Party.
Talking to The News, Foreign Office spokesman Abdul Basit confirmed that the issue of Pakistani students was raised during the talks between the visiting Prime Minister Brown and PM Gilani. Basit said there was also talks about the MoU on extradition and torturing the deportees. When asked whether PM Gilani was offered concessions to Pakistan in case this MoU was signed, he replied ìnot to my knowledgeî.
Browns deal on students turned down by Gilani
