The Lord Sheikh, Chairman of the Ethnic Diversity Council of the Conservative Party and Conservative Muslim Forum attended a function organised by the Indian High Commission to celebrate the 61st anniversary of the Indian Independence.

The event was held at the residence of the Indian High Commissioner and the picture was taken at the function on the 15th August 2008.

Lord Sheikh attended an event at the Pakistani High Commission in Knightsbridge to celebrate the 61st Anniversary of Pakistan’s Independence. Lord Sheikh spoke at the event and the function was very well attended.

The picture shows Lord Sheikh with Pakistan’s High Commissioner His Excellency Wajid Shamsul Hasan. He was accompanied by Lady Sheikh and Mohammed Ali Azeem who is a member of the Conservative Muslim Forum Youth Committee.

Mohammed Amin, CMF Vice-Chairman, attended the annual interfaith barbecue of the Islamic Circles Supplementary School (see www.icss.org.uk) in East Ham on 20 July.

The school is a charitable project organised by local parents and other citizens, without any state funding, to provide extra support to ethnic minority children, mainly of primary school age, who were being failed by local schools. Mohammed Amin reminded the children that with Allah’s help and hard work, there is no limit to their future achievements.

They should aim high and someday one of them might even become Prime Minister.

ord Sheikh and members of the CMF Executive Committee travelled to Bury to discuss the formation of CMF North West.

Also at the meeting were Vice-Chairman Mohammed Amin and Arif Hussain. The meeting was attended by over 40 members of the local Conservative Party including Sajjad Karim MEP. A further meeting was arranged to talk about the actual formation and election process.

After the meeting refreshments were served.

CMF executive committee member Wan Saiful Jan Wan met Iain Duncan Smith MP at a conference in Atlanta, USA, on 24 – 25 April 2008.

The conference, organised by the Heritage Foundation, was a gathering of almost 700 think tank executives, public interest lawyers, policy experts, and elected officials from more than 50 countries to discuss issues, strategies, and methods for advancing conservative ideas globally.”

Cllr Arif Hussain and Karim Sacoor, executive members of the CMF went campaigning with Boris Johnson on St George’s Day as he toured London on the Back Boris Campaign Bus.

The CMF members met Boris Johnson at Westminster and travelled to Leadenhall Market in the heart of the city of London, where a cheering crowd of well-wishers received Boris. Boris then toured the market and spoke to several Londoners and was entertained by a group of Morris Dancers.

The Shadow Minister for London Bob Neil MP was also present at Leadenhall Market and the special St George’s Day atmosphere was enjoyed by all.

The Chairman of the CMF, Lord Sheikh hosted Boris Johnson at an event in Croydon, where Boris had an enjoyable evening talking to the local Muslim community.

Lord Sheikh introduced Boris to a packed hall of over a hundred guests and called upon the residents of Croydon to ‘vote blue’ on May 1st. He also stated that the Conservative Party was the way forward and that Boris had a series of initiatives that would help improve the quality of life of Londoners.

Boris thanked Lord Sheikh and the CMF for their hospitality and great support in arranging the event and spoke in detail about his desire for a better, brighter and safer London.

A lively question and answer session then followed and Boris and the guests all then tucked into a delicious supper.

Also present at the function were Steve O’Connell (GLA member) and Councillor Gavin Barwell, who is the parliamentary candidate for Croydon Central.

Several members of the Conservative Muslim Forum presented a petition to the Rt Hon David Davis MP, the Shadow Home Secretary, which was signed by over twelve hundred people and opposes controversial Government proposals to extend the time for which terrorism suspects can be held without charge.

The Government recently unveiled a new Counter-Terrorism Bill, which proposes to extend the period a terrorist suspect can be held without charge from 28 days to 42 days. These controversial proposals will in effect enable investigators to detain suspects for up to six weeks without declaring a state of emergency and have been strongly condemned by the Conservative Party.

Commenting Lord Sheikh, the Chairman of the Conservative Muslim Forum, said:

‘All citizens, regardless of religion or ethnic origin, are threatened by terrorism. However, we will not defeat terrorism by legislation which takes away liberties that Briton’s have enjoyed for centuries. Instead, citizens must be encouraged to do everything possible to assist the police in their task of protecting our people.’

David Davis, the Shadow Home Secretary stated the following on receiving the petition from the Conservative Muslim Forum:

‘The Government is fixated with extending detention without trial without a shred of evidence regarding the need, even though it will cut off vital cooperation from local communities. There are already emergency powers to deal with the nightmare scenarios Ministers keep speculating about.’

The Rt Hon David Davis MP has been a vocal critic of the new anti-terrorism package and has also previously accused the government of trying to establish a ‘permanent undeclared state of emergency.’

The Conservative Muslim Forum has worked with great dedication and commitment in regard to promoting support for the petition and was able to get hundreds of people to endorse it at the Global Peace and Unity Conference, where the CMF had a stall.