A DESPICABLE Labour Councillor and GP has been slammed after making an outrageous claim about the Pakistani community.
Stereotyping an entire group of people, Councillor Shabina Qayyum, who represents Peterborough’s East Ward, shockingly made the comment to a local constituent who had ‘reached out to her for help’:
The controversial councillor’s vile statement has understandably generated an angry backlash from local residents, with one constituent, Malayeka Sultan, taking to Facebook to publish the above screenshot.
“What Cllr Shabina Qayyum really thinks of the Pakistani community!” Mr Sultan raged. “I am shocked and hurt by these messages. A friend of mine reached out to Cllr Doctor Shabina Qayyum for help with a work matter. This is what Shabina had to say about me and the Pakistani community.”
This is not the first time Qayyum has found herself in hot water.
In June 2019, VoteWatch exposed that Shabina, along with many of her Labour colleagues, had used convicted electoral fraudster Tariq Mahmood to help win her seat.
Mahmood was jailed in 2008 for his role in one of the worst electoral frauds to be perpetrated in the UK this century, following a police investigation that cost the taxpayer almost £1m.
The fraudster, who is known locally by the unflattering nickname ‘wormy’, was locked up along with former Labour mayor Mohammed Choudhary over a sinister scheme to fabricate postal votes.
“They were able to get hold of postal and proxy votes which belonged to voters in the central ward,” prosecuting QC Anthony Leonard said at the time.
“They arranged for postal and ballot papers to be sent not to the voter but to addresses with which each defendant was connected.”
It has been alleged that Mahmood continues to be involved in such activity, and was spotted out campaigning with Labour once again last year.
In 2019, Police were called by the council after Dr Qayyum and Mahmood were accused by an elderly disabled resident of trying to ‘forcefully’ take her postal vote whilst out canvassing.
The doctor appears to be surrounded by colleagues of a similar (closed) mindset, with Councillor Amjad Iqbal recently being criticised by residents over ‘xenophobic’ comments about Polish people.
Iqbal, along with Labour leader and sitting Councillor Shaz Nawaz – who, in his role as an accountant puts aside his ‘socialist values’ to advise rich businessmen how to exploit loopholes to pay less tax – also used ballot-burglar Tariq Mahmood to help win his seat.
A close friend of Mahmood, Cllr Nawaz was even featured with his vote-rigging chum alongside former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn in an official Labour campaign video.
Labour has long been a stain on the local constituency, with one former MP, Lisa Forbes, making headlines for appearing to support an antisemitic post on Facebook, and another, MP Fiona Onasanya, losing her seat after being sent to prison.
Onasanya, who was previously shamed for filming herself pretending to take cocaine, took the seat from widely-respected Tory MP and staunch Brexiteer Stewart Jackson by just 607 votes under highly suspicious circumstances – and once again with the help of Tariq Mahmood.
Adding further to their disgrace, last year no less than 7 Peterborough Labour councillors were suspended over allegations of antisemitsm – Dr Qayyum being among them.
Seeing sense and demonstrating their outrage at the polling station, Peterborians now once again have a Tory MP after voting Paul Bristow to represent them in the 2019 general election.
Bristow, born-and-bred in the constituency, has since been praised by locals for his hard work and commitment to improving local services, and for being a strong voice for Peterborians, including the city’s large Pakistani community – decent men and women to whom Dr Qayyum bigotedly refuses to even offer her trust.
A spokesperson from the Peterborough Conservative Association told VoteWatch:
“There is no context that justifies the comment ‘I don’t trust anyone in the Pakistani community’.
“If a Conservative councillor said that, Labour would demand their resignation.
“Cllr Qayyum is constantly accusing others of racism and prejudice. She should take a look in the mirror. Her contempt for her less ‘educated’ voters in East Ward is obvious.”
