Pakistan summons UK envoy over 'provocative' statements at protest in Bradford

Islamabad, Dec 26 (PTI) Pakistan on Friday summoned the UK's diplomat here and issued a demarche over a protest in Bradford near a Pakistani consulate where "provocative statements" were made against the country's civil and military leadership.

According to Foreign Office spokesperson Tahir Andrabi, Deputy Head of Mission Matt Kennel was summoned to the Foreign Office at 2.00 pm to register a protest over the incident.

The demarche urged British authorities to take note of the threats made to the Pakistani leadership on their soil and not allow their soil to be used to destabilise Pakistan.

“The demarche was issued after provocative statements were made against Pakistan’s civil and military leadership from British soil,” the FO spokesperson said, and urged the UK to “hold responsible elements accountable in accordance with the law”.

Earlier, the Pakistani government had written a letter to British authorities demanding action against the inflammatory statements made at a protest in Bradford.

Minister of State for Interior Talal Chaudhry and Minister of State for Finance Bilal Kayani confirmed that development to Geo News, with the latter particularly mentioning that “the head of armed forces was threatened” in the video.

Kayani also mentioned the opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s involvement in the matter, naming the party, which Chaudhry didn’t.

In the video circulated on social media, a woman appears to be wishing ill on a person without taking any name, saying that they should be “blown up in a car”. The woman can be seen surrounded by people holding PTI flags.

When asked about the video, Chaudhry said, “Pakistan has formally written to the UK, expecting them to act according to their laws and justice system.” Kayani termed the incident shown in the video “unacceptable” and “unfortunate”.

“We have repeatedly said that PTI spreads violence and threats under the guise of politics, justifies threats, and misuses freedom of speech,” Kayani said.

Earlier this month, Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi had said that the government would repatriate from the UK those YouTubers involved in targeting the state institutions. PTI SH GRS GRS GRS