Muslim Councillor Charged with Assaulting his Wife

LABOUR’S problems in Glasgow have mounted after a party councillor was bailed after being charged with assaulting his wife.

Shaukat Butt MBE, who represents the Govan ward, appeared in court on Friday after he was arrested and detained in custody.

The Labour Party said it would suspend him.

The former JP has been a councillor since 1995 and is a member of various city bodies.

Butt’s political future is now in doubt following his arrest for alleged assault.

The 69-year-old was released on standard bail after appearing at Glasgow Sheriff Court, and the pleading trial has been set for October.

Butt has been ill recently, and it is not known if he wanted to stand in May’s local elections. His suspension means he cannot stand for Labour. As vice-chair of Glasgow Community and Safety Services, Butt said last year: “Violence and crime can have a devastating impact on our communities.”

A spokesman for Scottish Labour said: “This man will be suspended from the Labour Party until the outcome is known and we take these allegations exceptionally seriously.”

Butt said he had “no comment” to make.

Source: Herald

The Muslim News is Happy About the Scottish Election Results

Labour, SNP, Tories, Lib Dems...doesn't really matter to the Muslim News, as long as they're Muslims. Hell, they'd probably even be happy about a BNP member being elected - as long as he was a Muslim too. The newspaper happily reports on the two Muslims, Humza Yousaf and Hanzala Malik, who recently won appointment to the Scottish parliament through the undemocratic regional list system.

In amidst the gushing reportage, there are a few interesting nuggets of information. For example, there is further evidence, as if any were needed, on the SNP's self-debasement in pursuit of Muslim votes:

The majority of his [Yousaf's] time therefore was spent campaigning on behalf of Nicola Sturgeon. He even arranged for the Deputy First Minister to visit a packed restaurant hall showing the Pakistan India World Cup cricket match.

Oh, yes, no need to bother campaigning for your own election when you're going to be appointed, not elected.

Weeks before the election the SNP published a leaflet in Urdu. It highlighted the £1m it gave to aid the Pakistani flood relief, its opposition to the Iraq war as well as its critical stance on the Israeli siege of Gaza.

This is shocking. I didn't know the SNP had wasted taxpayer money donating to Pakistani flood relief. Yet again we see the SNP's foreign aid going to Islam-dominated countries; and they choose to highlight it in their election literature, published in Urdu so real Scottish people can't read it. This is blatant abuse of power. They are giving money away as foreign aid to win over domestic voter groups.

The article also has an interesting quote from Hanzala Malik:

“But for the last 15 years Alex Salmond has been engaging with the Muslim community. It was the SNP that introduced a bill to criminalise forced marriage and we are the only Scottish party, unless the situation has changed recently, that supports the right of the Kashmiri people to determine their own future.”

What does this mean? "It was the SNP that introduced a bill to criminalise forced marriage". It sounds as if he is saying that as a criticism of the SNP. So, presumably, he must be in favour of forced marriage? I think it's time a journalist asked Hanzala Malik pointedly what his position on forced marriage is.

Malik also makes it clear that he intends to agitate on behalf of Muslims rather than act in the interests of the Scottish people as a whole:

He will also focus on the effect of economic downturn on the minority communities. “Economic squeeze hurts minority communities more than anybody else and they need to be assisted,” he said.

There were also some more interesting details on Hanzala Malik's career:

He also recently helped with the transfer of two fire engines from Strathclyde Fire and Rescue to the Punjab.

What the f*ck are we doing, giving free fire engines to the Punjab?

Hanzala was the spokesman for Glasgow City Council on International Affairs.

Why the f*ck does Glasgow City Council need an International Affairs Spokesman? What a freaking joke! The delusions of grandeur among our mickey mouse politicians are astounding. Alex Salmond likes to give taxpayer money away in foreign aid so he can feel important; the munchkins on Glasgow City Council like to speak out on international affairs so they can indulge their own sense of grandiosity.

Hanzala 'Two Jobs' Malik

Some of the MSPs recently elected (or, in the case of the two Muslims, appointed) to the Scottish Parliament still hold jobs as local government councillors. This includes Hanzala Malik, the Muslim MSP who was appointed to the parliament based on his top placement on Labour's Glasgow Regional List.

Some newly elected SNP MSPs have announced that they will continue serving as councillors until the next elections come around and will give their councillors' salaries away to charity in the meantime. The Labour leadership on Glasgow City Council has said it will leave it to the councillors in this position, including Hanzala Malik, to decide for themselves what they want to do, however. According to the Herald, Malik also holds a job on an outside body associated with the council.

Hanzala Malik collects around £11,000 in addition to his basic wages for his position as vice-chairman of the Glasgow City Marketing Bureau.

The Herald had previously reported on how Glasgow councillors were able to enhance their own salaries by inventing quangos and associated agencies and appointing themselves to paid positions on their boards. The council now intends to seek Malik's removal from all outside bodies associated with the council.

Source