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Godfather of Karachi, resident of Edgware This entry was posted on May 14, 2013, in  Pakistan Yesterday I called upon the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police to arrest a British citizen for incitement to murder. It is an open and shut case. You can watch his lips move on television, broadcast from London, in the wake of the controversial election count in the giant port city of Karachi, Pakistan. Hussain openly threatened the young democracy protesters agitating for a re-run of the election there that he would have them cut them down with swords. No-one should think this mere rhetoric, Hussain is already convicted in Pakistan for multiple murder extortion organised crime and terrorist offences. That’s why he lives in Edgware. In fact he is chief suspect in over 100 murder cases, including in England in the murder of one of his own leading comrades. Five years ago I gave a  speech in Parliament  asking why the then New Labour government was not o...

May 12, 2013 Sir, it is an honour to call you a leader. PHOTO: REUTERS A sudden lull is seen on social media as the results trickle in. Shock. Disbelief. Disappointment. After all, we were called the “PTI trolls”. Our enthusiasm and excitement, and often confrontational attitude of taking head-on collisions with the old players of the political field irked the intelligentsia and the liberaati. A truly centrist party, we were attacked by everyone: the left and the right. However, through it all, as a young party, we held each other’s hands and were fueled by hopes of a Tsunami. PML-N is in a clear lead – no question about it – and we are all devastated, me and my fellow PTIians. A bit sheepish about our often naïve enthusiasm which others mistook for arrogance, I hear the youth, our strongest voters, saying: “Nothing in this damned country will ever change.” To all those, I would like to say: “Look around again; it already has. We are already living is a mor...

Shirin Sadeghi Independent TV & Radio Host, ex-BBC & Al Jazeera When the mighty do not fall, they are felled, but Imran Khan is still going strong despite serious injuries this week at a campaign rally. He's come a long way since  I first interviewed him in 2011 : he's the most important person in Pakistan right now and the biggest election in his country's history is all about him. Unlike in the United States, campaigning in Pakistan has time limits and the brief period of campaigning ended Thursday at midnight with a massive Islamabad rally for Khan followed by a smaller rally for his main opponent: Mian Nawaz Sharif, the two-time former Prime Minister and head of the Pakistan Muslim League - Nawaz (PML-N) party. Sharif, sweating under the grand lights of his stage, with a combover lightly flapping in the night's breeze, and his microphone being held for him by a hand other than his, was -- as his campaign has been -- focused on Khan. Kha...