Politicians urge ministers to help Britons with relatives seeking to flee Taliban rule
MPs HAVE revealed that they have been flooded with pleas from Britons to help evacuate their relatives from Afghanistan to escape the Taliban.
Britain’s last military flight left Kabul at the end of August after helping more than 15,000 people leave in the two weeks after the Taliban took control of the country. But it is estimated that hundreds of Afghans who had worked with Britain and were eligible for resettlement remain in the country and are fearing for their lives.
Afzal Khan, Labour MP for Manchester Gorton, said he received more than 70 cases of constituents asking for urgent help for their relatives – each one has between five and 10 relatives in Afghanistan.
He told Eastern Eye: “One of my constituents has shared videos of her family stuck at Kabul airport, desperately trying to flee the Taliban. She is a Hazara Shia, so she fears for her family’s safety, as religious minorities including Shia Muslims are at risk of persecution.
“The dire and worsening situation in Afghanistan demands urgent action, as we witness a humanitarian and refugee crisis unfold.
“Our immediate priority now must be to accelerate efforts to evacuate the thousands of UK nationals and eligible Afghans out of the country.”
Passengers arriving from Afghanistan who landed at Manchester Airport last month were given food, water, blankets, pushchairs, nappies and baby food. Khan said they received support from charities including Care4Calais and Islamic Relief, who have “been doing brilliant work to help support refugees arriving in Manchester”.
The UK has held talks with senior Taliban figures in Qatar to ensure that Britons can safely leave Afghanistan. Ministers also discussed safe passage for Afghans who have worked with the UK over the past 20 years.
Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi, Labour MP for Slough, told Eastern Eye: “Slough has a long, proud track record of providing support to asylum seekers, and we are currently hosting 300 asylum seekers awaiting immigration status.
“We continue to have a strong desire to help, but the pragmatic reality of Slough Borough Council’s financial situation prevents further support, unless full ongoing funding is provided by the government.” Munira Wilson, Liberal Democrat MP for Twickenham, said: “Across our community, people have been pulling together to provide whatever help they can to families affected by the troubling events in Afghanistan.
“We need an urgent response from the government to make sure thousands of Afghans can seek refuge in this country and we resettle as many people as possible. Creating a safe corridor for civilians, including women and girls, must be one of the top priorities right now.”
Nusrat Ghani, Conservative MP for Wealding in East Sussex, believes the Taliban’s ideology has not changed.
“Their idea of a state has no room for women and girls. Afghan women are already being withdrawn from public life and education. We have to continue to do all we can to get them out.”
It emerged in August that thousands of emails to the Foreign Office from MPs and charities detailing urgent cases of Afghans trying to escape from Kabul were not read.
In response to the news, Labour MP Zarah Sultana said her office has been working to advocate for constituents and their family members whose lives are at risk in Afghanistan.
She added: “The fact the government didn’t put in resources necessary for emails to even be opened is disgraceful and an insult to the Afghan people.”
Officials process documents from Afghan refugees at Heathrow airport.(Photo by Dominic Lipinski - WPA Pool/Getty Images)
Labour MP Apsana Begum added: “Our team and I have been raising the cases of absolutely desperate people whose lives are at risk in Afghanistan and seek help from the government, but (prime minister) Boris Johnson and Dominic Raab (foreign secretary) didn’t put the resources in to ensure the emails even read. Disgraceful.”
In response to the allegations, a Foreign Office spokesperson said: “We have been working tirelessly to evacuate over 15,000 people from Afghanistan in the last two weeks.
“We deployed a 24/7 cross-Whitehall team based in our crisis hub in order to triage incoming emails and calls from British nationals, applicants, and other vulnerable Afghans.
“We always cautioned that the nature of the security situation in Afghanistan and our responsibility to keep our people safe meant that we would not be able to evacuate everyone we wanted to.
“Our efforts have now turned to doing everything we can to help any remaining British nationals and the Afghans who supported us leave Afghanistan safely.”
The government has pledged to take up to 20,000 Afghan refugees who were forced to flee their home or face threats of persecution from the Taliban.
Around 5,000 people could arrive here within the first year. But London council bosses said in early September they are only able to house between 125 and 152 families in total.
A government spokesperson said it has made £5 million available to local authorities to support housing costs.
India's prime minister Narendra Modi shakes hands with Chinese president Xi Jinping during a meeting on the sidelines of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit in Tianjin, China, August 31, 2025. India's Press Information Bureau/Handout via REUTERS
INDIAN prime minister Narendra Modi said New Delhi was committed to improving ties with Beijing in a key meeting with China's president Xi Jinping on the sidelines of a regional security forum on Sunday (31).
Modi is in China for the first time in seven years to attend a two-day meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, along with Russian president Vladimir Putin and other leaders from Central, South and Southeast Asia and the Middle East in a show of Global South solidarity.
"We are committed to progressing our relations based on mutual respect, trust and sensitivities," Modi told Xi during the meeting, according to a video clip posted on the Indian leader's official X account.
The bilateral meeting took place five days after Washington imposed punishing 50 per cent tariffs on Indian goods due to New Delhi's purchases of Russian oil. Analysts say Xi and Modi are looking to present a united front against Western pressure.
Modi said an atmosphere of "peace and stability" has been created on their disputed Himalayan border, the site of a prolonged military standoff after deadly troop clashes in 2020, which froze most areas of cooperation between the nuclear-armed strategic rivals.
He added that an agreement had been reached between both nations regarding border management, without giving details.
Both leaders had a breakthrough meeting in Russia last year after reaching a border patrol agreement, setting off a tentative thaw in ties that has accelerated in recent weeks as New Delhi seeks to hedge against renewed tariff threats from Washington.
Direct flights between both nations, which have been suspended since 2020, are "being resumed", Modi added, without providing a timeframe.
China had agreed to lift export curbs on rare earths, fertilisers and tunnel boring machines this month during a key visit to India by China's foreign minister Wang Yi.
China opposes Washington's steep tariffs on India and will "firmly stand with India," Chinese Ambassador to India Xu Feihong said this month.
For decades, Washington painstakingly cultivated ties with New Delhi in the hope that it would act as a regional counterweight to Beijing.
In recent months, China has allowed Indian pilgrims to visit Buddhist sites in Tibet, and both countries have lifted reciprocal tourist visa restrictions.
"Both India and China are engaged in what is likely to be a lengthy and fraught process of defining a new equilibrium in the relationship," said Manoj Kewalramani, a Sino-Indian relations expert at the Takshashila Institution think tank in Bengaluru.
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Bashir retired from the force while under investigation but will still face misconduct proceedings. (Photo credit: West Yorkshire Police)
A FORMER West Yorkshire Police officer has been sentenced to two years and three months in prison after being convicted of misconduct in a public office.
Wasim Bashir, 55, who worked as a detective constable in Bradford District, was found guilty of one count of misconduct in a public office for forming a sexual relationship with a female victim of crime. He was sentenced at Sheffield Crown Court on Friday, 29 August.
Bashir retired from the force while under investigation but will still face misconduct proceedings.
The charge related to an incident of abuse of position for a sexual purpose, with Bashir engaging in a sexual relationship with a woman who had reported to West Yorkshire Police that she had been the victim of a sexual offence. He was involved in investigating her case.
The conviction followed an investigation by West Yorkshire Police’s Counter Corruption Unit under the direction of the Independent Office for Police Conduct. During the trial, the judge directed the jury to find Bashir not guilty of a second count of misconduct in a public office.
Detective Superintendent Natalie Dawson, Deputy Head of West Yorkshire Police’s Professional Standards Directorate, said: “For a police officer to pursue a sexual relationship with a vulnerable woman who had come forward to report being victim of a sexual offence is nothing short of abhorrent.
“I want to reassure victims of crime and the wider public that this former officer is not representative of our organisation. One of the Force’s key purposes is to protect vulnerable people, and our officers and staff work tirelessly to protect people from harm and to safeguard victims.
“Former DC Bashir has retired from the organisation, but we will still continue with misconduct proceedings with a view to him being banned from gaining any further employment in the policing profession.”
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Protesters calling for the closure of The Bell Hotel, which was housing asylum seekers, gather outside the council offices in Epping on August 8, 2025. (Photo: Getty Images)
Court of Appeal has overturned injunction blocking use of Epping hotel for asylum seekers.
Judges say human rights obligations outweigh local safety concerns.
At least 13 councils preparing legal action despite ruling.
Protests outside the Bell Hotel lead to arrests and police injuries.
MORE than a dozen councils are moving ahead with legal challenges against the use of hotels for asylum seekers despite the Home Office winning an appeal in the Court of Appeal.
Judges ruled that meeting the human rights of asylum seekers by providing accommodation outweighed local safety concerns.
The injunction was secured by Epping Forest District Council after protests following the alleged sexual assault of a 14-year-old girl by an Ethiopian asylum seeker.
The man has been charged and denies wrongdoing. A full hearing on the planning dispute over the Bell Hotel will take place in October.
At least 13 councils are preparing similar legal action, The Times reported, including Labour-run Wirral, Stevenage, Tamworth and Rushmoor. Epping Forest Council said it may appeal to the Supreme Court.
Asylum minister Dame Angela Eagle said the government remained committed to ending hotel use by 2029 and argued the appeal was needed to move migrants “in a controlled and orderly way”.
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch criticised the government for prioritising “the rights of illegal immigrants above the rights of British people” and urged councils to continue legal action.
Reform leader Nigel Farage said the government had used the European Convention on Human Rights “against the people of Epping”.
Councils including Broxbourne and Spelthorne confirmed they were pressing ahead with enforcement action on planning grounds.
Protests outside the Bell Hotel on Friday led to the arrest of three men, while two police officers sustained minor injuries.
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India and Canada have appointed new envoys in a step to restore diplomatic ties strained since 2023. (Representational image: iStock)
INDIA and Canada on Thursday announced the appointment of new envoys to each other’s capitals, in a step aimed at restoring strained ties following the killing of a Sikh separatist in 2023.
India has named senior diplomat Dinesh K Patnaik as the next high commissioner to Ottawa, while Canada appointed Christopher Cooter as its new envoy to New Delhi.
The move comes more than two months after Indian prime minister Narendra Modi met Canadian prime minister Mark Carney on the sidelines of the G7 summit at Kananaskis in Canada.
Patnaik, a 1990-batch Indian Foreign Service officer, is currently India’s ambassador to Spain.
“He is expected to take up the assignment shortly,” the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said in a statement.
In Ottawa, Canadian Foreign Minister Anita Anand announced that Cooter will be the next high commissioner to India, succeeding Cameron MacKay.
“The appointment of a new high commissioner reflects Canada’s step-by-step approach to deepening diplomatic engagement and advancing bilateral cooperation with India,” Anand said. “This appointment is an important development toward restoring services for Canadians while strengthening the bilateral relationship to support Canada’s economy.”
A Canadian statement described the appointments as an important step towards restoring diplomatic services for citizens and businesses in both countries.
Cooter, who has 35 years of diplomatic experience, most recently served as Canada’s charge d’affaires to Israel and has earlier been high commissioner to South Africa, Namibia, Lesotho, Mauritius and Madagascar. He also worked as first secretary at the Canadian High Commission in New Delhi from 1998 to 2000.
In June, Modi and Carney had agreed to take “constructive” steps to bring stability to bilateral ties, including the early return of envoys to both capitals.
Relations between the two countries had deteriorated sharply after then prime minister Justin Trudeau alleged in 2023 that India may have had a role in the killing of Khalistani separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
Following this, India recalled its high commissioner and five other diplomats in October last year, while expelling an equal number of Canadian diplomats after Ottawa linked them to the case.
Carney’s victory in the parliamentary election in April has since helped initiate a reset in relations.
(With inputs from agencies)
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Security officers escort Sri Lankan former fisheries minister, Rajitha Senaratne (C), outside a court in Colombo on August 29, 2025. (Photo by ISHARA S. KODIKARA/AFP via Getty Images)
SRI LANKAN former government minister surrendered himself to a court on Friday (29) after two months on the run, the latest high profile detention in a sweeping anti-corruption crackdown.
Anti-graft units have ramped up their investigations since president Anura Kumara Dissanayake came to power in September on a promise to fight corruption.
Former fisheries minister Rajitha Senaratne, who served in the cabinet of then-president Mahinda Rajapaksa, is accused of illegally awarding a 2012 contract to a foreign firm, allegedly causing a loss to the state of $83,000 (£61,478).
Senaratne had repeatedly dodged questioning, the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption said.
High Court judge Lanka Jayaratne ordered him transferred to a lower court to face multiple cases.
Several politicians from the Rajapaksa administration, as well as family members, are either in jail or on bail pending corruption investigations.
Former president Ranil Wickremesinghe was arrested last week on a charge of misusing $55,000 (£40,738) of government funds for a private stopover in Britain.
Wickremesinghe, 76, who was granted bail on Tuesday (26), insisted the stopover was part of his official duties.
Under Dissanayake, two former senior ministers have been jailed for up to 25 years for corruption.
The police chief has been impeached, after he was accused of running a criminal network that supported politicians, and the prisons chief was jailed for corruption.
The head of immigration -- arrested just before Dissanayake took power -- remains in detention on a charge of contempt of court.