Tag: Pakistani British

  • Police brutality on British-Pakistanis provoke protests in Manchester

    Police brutality on British-Pakistanis provoke protests in Manchester

    Several videos of an armed UK cop holding a taser over a man lying face down on the floor are going viral on social media. The cop can be seen striking the man twice while other officers shout at onlookers in Manchester Airport.

    Onlookers can be heard shouting in the video as the cops proceed to kick and stamp on the man’s heads. The chaotic scene continued as another person is heard yelling “move back”, while a female officer is seen turning her taser towards other individuals present.

    Other voices in the video plead, “Stop kicking people”, and a slew of expletives as multiple officers surround the men on the ground.

    Reports suggest the men being beaten by police officers are British Pakistanis.

    Videos of two young men who were arrested and then released by the police have also emerged online. Their lawyer has confirmed that Fahir and Ammad were assaulted by the police at the airport in front of their mother who could be seen protecting one of them in the video that went viral. The lawyer claimed that they were arrested by the police and upon their release they themselves went to the hospital for first-aid whereas it was the duty of the police to provide them with medical help. The lawyer stressed that a “complaint has been filed against the police officers that have assaulted both Fahir and Amaad and their elderly mother who was just there as a bystander”.

    The same Twitter thread claimed that someone at the airport had hit the trolley of the boys’ mother, and this escalated a fight, adding that the boys were released by the police because of the lack of evidence.

    Dawn’s Atika Rehman reports that the incident happened on Wednesday afternoon (July 24).

    Greater Manchester Police responded to the viral video by saying that an armed officer had been attacked while attempting to arrest someone, following a fight in Terminal 2 of the airport on Tuesday.

    Police issued a statement following the release of the video on social media that four men were arrested at the scene on suspicion of assaulting emergency service workers.

    The police said that a female officer suffered from a broken nose, and other officers required hospitalisation.

    BBC News quoted Assistant Chief Constable Wasim Chaudhry as saying: “We know that a film of an incident at Manchester Airport that is circulating widely shows an event that is truly shocking, and that people are rightly extremely concerned about. The use of such force in an arrest is an unusual occurrence and one that we understand creates alarm.”

    The IOPC said it would assess GMP’s referral “and decide what further action is required”.

    A protest was held following the footage release where one of the protesters had told the crowd they were “no longer going to settle” for “police brutality”, the Manchester Evening News reported.

    People from the British-Pakistani community expressed their disappointment at the police for mistreating the boys. A criminal lawyer in UK, Attik Malik posted a video of him expressing the disgust he felt after the videos and pronounced, “enough is enough.”

    Another user pointed out that, “this cannot be challenged. This is absolutely brutal and disgusting.”

  • British-Pakistani given royal award for saving 29 lives

    Pakistani-British rail worker Rizwan Javed, who has saved 29 people from taking their own lives since 2015, has been appointed as a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE), Geo’s Murtaza Ali Shah reported.

    Rizwan Javed, from Leyton in East London, works for the MTR Elizabeth line at Ealing Broadway and Paddington stations. He joined the railway around 10 years ago and at the start of his career, he attended the Samaritans training course.

    Talking to the Geo News, Rizwan said, “I am thankful to Allah for this honour. It’s all due to the prayers of my parents that I have been recognised in the King’s New Year’s Honours List. It’s a huge honour for me that my work in the mental health area has been recognised this way.”

    He has been instrumental in saving several lives at the platform during the course of his work by being alert and approaching vulnerable individuals in weak moments.

    He gave credit to his training at Samaritans, “With the Samaritans, I learned how to identify vulnerable people, what sort of conversations to have with them, how to engage them, how to look out, and how to take them to the point of safety.”

    Within the first week after starting his railway job, Javed helped stop someone from taking their own life.

    Recalling an incident Rizwan shared that in one instance he talked to a girl in her mid-20s after identifying that she needed help. “A few days later, she came running to me at the station and gave me a big hug. She said she wouldn’t be alive today if I had not talked to her that night and if I had not convinced her that life was worth living. That was very emotional and rewarding.”

    He said people are not educated about mental health issues and these things create an impact.

    He told Geo News that he believes that Allah will always reward him for helping others and being there for those who have no one else to talk to them or undergoing. He credited his Pakistani parents for teaching him from a young age the importance of being helpful and charitable.

    He said: “My parents always taught me how to be a good and useful citizen, how to make a positive difference.”

    Javed and his parents were thrilled when they received the government letter telling him he was being appointed MBE for his services.

    MBE is the third highest ranking Order of the British Empire level (excluding a knighthood/damehood), behind Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE), and then Officer of the Order of British Empire (OBE).

  • Zayn Malik features ‘Chaudhvi Ka Chand’ in new album

    Zayn Malik features ‘Chaudhvi Ka Chand’ in new album

    Zayn Malik has surprised fans with a song in his new album Nobody Is Listening which features Muhammad Rafi’s Chaudhvi Ka Chand.

    The track titled Tightrope has been creating quite a buzz on social media and has struck a chord with Bollywood music lovers. Zayn can be heard crooning the chorus, adding a new flavour to the song. The British-Pakistani singer has often discussed his fondness for Bollywood music and films in several interviews.

    Meanwhile, the 11-track album has elements of pop in it, while being laidback at the same time.

    Earlier, before releasing his new album, the singer-songwriter casually dropped his phone number on social media to hype fans up for the launch date and give a preview of his new music.

    This is not the first time that Zayn has sung a Bollywood track. A few years ago, Zayn had released covers of Allah Ke Bande and Allah Duhai Hai.

    Listen to the track: