British Pakistanis leaving Conservative Party, emerge claims

LONDON: A group of Pakistani doctors associated with the Conservative Party in the UK has claimed that it has lost over 200 members after UK Home Secretary and Member of Parliament Suella Braverman made 'bigoted' and 'racist' comments about Pakistani men linking them with sex grooming gangs, a media report said.

Braverman's comments that British Pakistani men "hold cultural values at odds with British values" and that they are "linked to the grooming scandal" have drawn wide criticism, with senior Conservative leaders accusing her of peddling racist and Islamophobic lies to gain the support of right-wing sections.

In a letter to the Braverman, Ashraf Chohan, Chairman and Founder of Conservative Friends of National Health Service (NHS), said that his organisation has lost over 200 members who are all doctors, Geo News reported.

Chohan has told the Home Secretary that he fears more doctors will leave the group as they no longer associate themselves with a party whose secretary holds such racist views. Conservative Friends of NHS has been raising funds and gathering support for the Tory party for several years.

Chohan wrote: "Since a statement from you as Home Secretary, I have lost 200 members who are all doctors. Therefore, only Sadiq Khan would be delighted on the statement you gave last week about British Pakistanis, and can a clarification be issued that you only meant offenders and criminals but not each Pakistani man please, as we Conservatives can't afford losing any more votes."