Conservatives’ Candidate : Pak expat to stand for EU president

ISLAMABAD: European Parliament Member Dr Sajjad Karim has been nominated as the presidential candidate for the European Conservatives and Reformists group (ECR). This will be a hotly contested election race fought between different factions of the EU Parliament. Dr Sajjad Karim has been at the forefront of the Conservatives’ reformist agenda in Europe. The North West member was the first British Muslim to be elected to the Parliament in 2004 and was re-elected for a consecutive third term last month. Dr Karim, a dual national with British and Pakistani citizenship, is a close ally of British PM David Cameron. Speaking from Brussels on Thursday, he said: “Extremist forces have come to the fore in EU politics only weeks ago, and today Europe has an opportunity to answer those forces. Our diversity is our biggest strength.”

Published in The Express Tribune, June 6^th, 2014.