LONDON, Dec 4: The week-long visit of former ISI chief Lt-Gen (retd) Javed Ashraf Qazi and former junior information minister Senator Tariq Azim on what appears to be a PR job for President Musharraf has provoked a vast section of Pakistanis living here to mount a counter-campaign.

The Campaign Against Martial Law in Pakistan (CAMLP), a recently formed group of Pakistani students, lawyers, doctors, journalists and civil society activists in the UK, have sent protest notes to all those British officials and non-officials who have consented to meet the two styling themselves as Musharraf’s special envoys.

The group has also chalked out an elaborate programme to stage protest demonstrations in front of all the meeting venues where the two would be visiting to present their version of what is happening in Pakistan.

On Tuesday, the two met Lord Mark Malloch Brown, Minister of State for Africa, Asia and United Nations, MP Khalid Mahmood, members of All Party Parliamentary Group, Mike Gapes, Chairman Foreign Affairs Committee of House of Commons and members of Pakistani community.

On Wednesday, Tariq Azim would be participating in a panel discussion on ‘The plight of Pakistani media under emergency rule’ at the Foreign Press Association.

The Pakistani media’s case would be presented by Ali Dayan of Human Rights Watch and Mr Azim will defend Musharraf’s current media policy.

On the same day, the special envoys would meet the members of the Pakistan-British Trade and Investment Forum at the Asia House.

Opinion

Editorial

Doctor attacked
09 Jun, 2026

Doctor attacked

AN act of reprehensible violence has shaken the medical community. On Saturday, an employee of the Provincial Civil...
AJK flare-up
Updated 09 Jun, 2026

AJK flare-up

The situation started deteriorating after a trader affiliated with the JAAC was reportedly shot in an altercation with law-enforcers.
Fault lines
09 Jun, 2026

Fault lines

THE April 8 ceasefire that halted hostilities between Israel and Iran has encountered its most serious test yet....
Soft on traders
08 Jun, 2026

Soft on traders

THE Fixed Tax Asaan Scheme for traders with an annual turnover of up to Rs200m has been designed as a ‘pragmatic...
Ceasefire in name
Updated 08 Jun, 2026

Ceasefire in name

Both sides accuse the other of violating the truce that was supposed to halt the conflict in April, yet neither appears willing to abandon negotiations altogether.
Damaged childhoods
08 Jun, 2026

Damaged childhoods

CHILD abuse is so prevalent that the UN ranked Pakistan as the least safe country for children. Even so, more than...