Leaving aside the charges of corruption and perverting the course of justice there are certain aspects of this case that need to he disscted. Under the present system and prevailing atmosphere there is a real dilenma for the ethnic minority political aspirants. If, ( like their white colleagues) they bring into a political party their family and friends, they are accused of entryisim and packing meetings. If they do not, then they have no chance of getting anywhere but will be left in the wilderness.

I have known many situations during my political career, that began in 1969, where the support of my family and friends would have ensured my success. indeed, on many occasions, I was advised by my Scottish well-wishers to bring into the Party 'my own people’ who would he there to vote for me when needed. Their argument was 'everybody in politics does it, we ourselves do it, why don’t you?’ My response always was that you can do it and get away with it because ‘your people’ would not be noticeable in a party meeting'. If I did the same, I would be accused of entryism and packing because my people 'would be visible’.

My concern was that such a practice may be beneficial to me in the short term but would have an adverse effect an me in the long term, and also on my community, especially those who would seek to follow me in politics. The reality that, because I was the first Muslim and one of the first Asians to become active in politics in the U K, made me very conscious of the responsibility I carried: 1 was acutely aware that as a trail blazer I was under the microscope and that the people and the press were watching me; my faults and failures more than my attributes and successes would reflect on ethnic minorities people.

This awareness has always kept me over cautious and restrained, sometimes unduly, in actions and in speech. The penalty I paid for this caution was that in spite of having a high profile and taking part in a number of parliamentary selection meetings in 1970s, I did not succeed in getting a winnable seat. lronically I also, lost the nomination for the safe seat of Giovan by one vote in 1972, as did Sarwar in the first ballot in December 1995.

Although we have now about 200 Asian councilors and five MPs in the U. K, nearly all of them owe their success to the support of their own people. Their numbers according to their population should be at least six times more in the local government and the British Parliament. This disparily is not due to lack of merit, or interest and effort on the part of Asian political activists. Many of them are failing to be elected because they do not dare to bring in their own people. Others are being blocked because of their alleged entryism, ‘irregularities in recruitment’ and other flimsy pretexts or ploys.

This is what happened, before the last general election to Ahrnad Shand in Gorton (Manchester) and many others in various constituencies all over the country. Sarwar was also subjected to accusation of entryism and packing meetings during the Govan selection process. However, he succeeded in becoming an MP. As for Shazad, who was challenging Gerald Kaufman, his brave efforts were frustrated even before going to the selection process. (Many applications for membership resulting from his recruitment drive were rejected and others were blocked on one pretext or another for a considerable time).

This case was highlighted by the BBC TV programme East, in May 1995. In the wake of this broadcast Mr. Shazad and some of his colleagues were suspended from membership of the patty for ‘breaching party rules’. The sitting candidate, Gerald Kaufman’s selection was ‘irrevocably’ endorsed by the N F. C and that was the end of the political ambitions of Shazad.

Selection disputes. of similar nature arose also in Bow and Poplar constituencies in London, Bradford West, Walsall and Ladywood, Perry Barr, Small Hleath, and Sparbrook Birmingham. The ambitions of councillor Muhammad Afzal to win the selection for the Sparbrook parliamentary seat were thwarted on two occasions - first for the 1992 and then for the new Smallheath Sparkbrook Constituency for the 1997 general election.

(In October 1991, in a startling report the BBC 2 exposed the devices employed by the local Labour party machine to keep out Councillor Afzal and select a ‘preferred’ candidate for Sparkbrook, the seat vacated by Denis Howell. Later on Councillor Afzal was accused of corruption and subjectcd to prolonged Police investigations. But after exhaustive inquiries he was absolved from all the false allegations. The 'saucy’ media coverage of this tale however, did a lot of damage to the reputation of the Councillor and his community in the early l990s).

In 1996, four predominantly Asian constituency organisations and a number of party branches in Birmingham, were suspended for alleged irregularities in recruitment or members. Councillur Raghib Ahsan, who was also a candidate for parliamentary selection in Smallheath Sparkbrook in 1997, and many party members were suspended, others’ applications for membership were rejected.

Kevin Scully the chairman of Sparkhrook constituency and other activists condemned this purge of black members as racist. Scully said: ‘If yon put up enough hurdles black people won’t bother staying in or joining.’ It makes it unlikely that 'Birmingham with the biggest Asian population in Britain, will get an Asian MP.’ Consequently, complaints of racial discrimination were lodged with the Commission for Racial Equality by a number of people. Some of these complaints are still being investigated. Councillor Ahsan, another aspirant for Parliament, was ultimately removed even from his council seat by being deselected.

Such machinations are not only limited to political parties but are practiced to the detriment of thc ethnic minorities even by the Government machinery. For example, every year local authorities all over the countiy mount vigorous campaigns and spend millions of pounds in persuading the people to register their votes. The rate of electoral registration among thc ethnic minorities has always been very low. Therefore, in every town with a sizeablc ethnic minority population, special efforts are made to target them in order to address the imbalance and ensure their proper registration. Leaflets in relevant languages are distributed and canvassers employed at considerable expense to go round their houses to persuade them to register.

But if members of the ethnic minority take it upon themselves to put in an effort and successfully persuade their people to register then electoral officials become apprehensive and call foul play. This is exactly what happened in Glasgow in 1997. When an ‘inordinately’ high number of late registration applications bearing unusual names came in from Govan, an area with a large ethnic minority population, the officials became so suspicious that they started investtgations. The investigations resulted in Sarwar being charged with electoral fraud.

The media has also treated Sarwar unfairly. Soon after the various allegations were made against him in 1997, and while Labour Party and Police investigations were in progress, the media began to conduct its own trial of Sarwar. Some newspapers (hastily) presumed him guilty and demanded his resignation and his sacking by the Labour Party. Also, the media’s obsessive description of him the the ‘Muslim’ Member of Parliament added another twist to the issue, and one that the Muslim community bitterly resents. There is a strong feeling that the emphasis on his Islamic faith by the media is linked to lslamophobia and that the Muslim label is being used to disparage Islam.

The media has been conveniently ignoring the fact that he is the member for Govan and was elected to represent the people of Govan, not Muslims. We have never heard any other Member being called a Catholic, a Protestant or a Jewish MP by fit British media. Indeed, a couple of years ago, when Malcolm Rif’kind the ex Minister for Defense was called a Jewish MP by a German journalist, there was a furore of condemnations and accusations of racism by the British and Western media. The German newspaper that published that ‘calumny’ was forced to apologise. In the case of Sarwar his faith has been under vile exposure since the day he became an MP. Yet there have been no protests, no condemnations and no apologies. This surely starkly shows the profound phobia towards Islam and Muslims in the British media.

So considering the ordeals of Sarwar, Afzal, Ahsan and Shazad, few Muslims or Asians will now be ambitious enough to aspire to become Members of Parliament. The way these four have been treated and the hurdles that were put in their way will discourage many Asians from participating in political parties and from recruiting members from their communities. Hence the process of their political activism that had started with hope and enthusiasm will suffer a serious setback and in turn will retard the chances of their proper representation in British Parliament. The feeling in the Asian community is that they were victims of racial prejudice and that they weredealt with in that way because they were Asian.

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Our latest addition is a selection of the Public Record Office files.
UK P.R.O. files are previously classified documents that are now available in the public domain.