BPYC Reponds to the BBC's

Impact of terror arrests examined

Almost 1,500 people were arrested under anti-terrorism laws between September 2001 and March 2008, but just over a third of those were charged and about one in eight of those arrested were convicted.

Kamran Ishtiaq, of the British Pakistani Youth Council, runs anti-radicalisation projects such as the Eastside Amateur Boxing Club in the Alum Rock/Bordesley Green areas of Birmingham.

He said:

"These people are forgetting once these guys are released, they are coming back into the community.

"The community is learning of this event and that just makes a bigger gap - I mean there's no trust between the community and the police."

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk

Kickboxing Champion Nisar “The Dream”

10th September 2009


Kickboxing Champion Nisar “The Dream”

Unbeaten in 30 straight ring light continuous bouts

He has won an English Championship, 3 versions of the British title, 3 versions of the European crown and more recently 2 versions of the World title.

His record now stands at 22 amateur and 15 professional fights unbeaten with most of them ending by KO.

Contact: www.freewebs.com/qasimthedream

Eastside Amateur Boxing Club

600 × 225 - bpycouncil.wordpress.com

3^rd August 2009

Location: Bordeseley Green, Birmingham

NATIONAL CHAMPIONS and INTERNATIONAL BOXERS winning 8 MEDALS, 3 GOLD and 5 SILVER in GB OLYMPIC ELITE BOXING SQUAD aiming for the 2012 OLYMPICS

The club trainers are Paul Counihan, Glen Bennett, Clarence Brown, Paul Gibbs, Neil Hateley and John Homer all quality and enthusiastic coaches. The club has a squad of 20 boxers who train every day.

British Pakistan Youth Council - Time to listen!

Time to listen!

British Pakistan Youth Council Achievements and Successes

British Pakistani Youth Council are a national Group of young people who, whilst recognising our faith and ethnic heritage, focus on the present and look to the future. We focus on issues affecting our lives as British Young People. Great Britain is our Adopted motherland and therefore our future and our interests are forever intertwined. 

We are inclusive and welcome young people who share our values from all parts of Great Britain. The BPYC is an inclusive group and seeks out people from all backgrounds, in particular the youth and those from a working class background. In other words we are not elitist, unlike other “Muslim representative” organisations that fail to include the voices of young British Pakistan people.

Terrorism and radicalisation appears kind of ‘just beyond’ and such throw away lines by the former US President such as “if we don’t fight ‘em over there, they’ll come here” rings a little untrue if not down right devious, even if it happens to be a understandable assumption. Rather than looking the other way and thinking such things do not concern us – we together must be willing to have a dialogue on these and other issues that concern not just British Pakistanis or British Muslims but all of us in the United Kingdom.

Much of what the police and security services are engaged in United Kingdom around the issues of terrorism and extremism remains classified for a reason, we are not saying that this information should be shared but we are asking the politicians and civil servants as well as the media to be more open and aware of sensitivities that can drive further alienation. Extremists – both religious and political not just from Islamic backgrounds feed on those unaware.

Deradicalisation of Pakistan’s existing radical Islamic community is a struggle, but preventing the further isolation and radicalisation of British Pakistanis is achievable with engagement at local community levels by all those who are willing to seek proactive solutions to the issues that drive extremism. At the BPYC we are already engaged with deradicalisation experts as well as Islamic scholars from all schools of thought within this British and Pakistani community and are seeking to open the British Pakistani community to engage all communities in the UK in dialogue and we aim to work together for a stronger awareness and British identity.

Most British Pakistanis aren’t radical or extreme and never were and they dislike radicalism but this information is not getting out not just to the wider community of British Pakistanis but also others – for example the media carries such stories that the next 9/11 type attack on the US will be likely be by British Pakistanis! We waited for some British Pakistanis or indeed others to respond to this – yet no response was made by any mainstream organisation or group that represented British Pakistanis. Indeed as British Pakistanis we have a growing problem generally with extremism and intolerance as with many other issues such as crime and so forth – like many other communities in the UK – but this can be dealt with over time with maturity and positivity from not just this community but all communities that make up our nation the United Kingdom. Many of the arrests made in the UK were of British Pakistanis – and regardless of whether most of them were released afterwards – we as British Pakistanis need to be able to discuss these issues openly and without fear.

Most British Pakistanis and Pakistanis are not extremists and the United Kingdom is not fighting Islam – its time for engagement – its time listen to each other, its time to work with each other on a common ground and with a common focus – we can begin this by dialogues within this community to increase awareness of common issues such as extremism.

The British Pakistani Youth Council is here and we will listen to you and in turn we hope you will listen to us.

British Pakistan Youth Council - Launch

1^st June 2009

British Pakistan Youth Council Launch

Venue: Hyatt Hotel, Broad Street Birmingham

Attendees included Cllr Mike Whitby, the Leader of the Birmingham City Council, Manzoor Mughal -The Muslim Forum (Islamic Law), Chief Executive, Stephen Hughes, Raja Amin - Magistrate (Law)

BPYC Cricket Awards 2009

BPYC Cricket Awards Presentation 2009