13/08/2026
Different heritage. Shared home. One community. 🇧🇩🇵🇰🇮🇳🇬🇧
I have seen the comments of a fellow councillor from another local authority about his decision not to attend a Pakistani flag-raising ceremony to mark Pakistan's Independence Day.
As someone of Bangladeshi heritage, I felt it was important to offer a different perspective.
I fully respect that people can have deeply personal reasons for how they engage with events connected to our history. The suffering and atrocities experienced by Bangladeshis in 1971 were horrific. We must never forget those who lost their lives, and we should always have the courage to acknowledge and learn from that history.
But remembering painful history should not mean allowing it to define how we view people today.
I am proud of my Bangladeshi heritage. I am proud of the struggle that led to the independence of Bangladesh. But I can also respect and celebrate the Pakistani community without believing that doing so diminishes my identity, my history or the sacrifices of those who came before me.
Participating in a Pakistani Independence Day ceremony is not an endorsement of the Pakistani military, its political leadership or everything the Pakistani state has ever done.
A flag can carry painful memories, but it can also represent ordinary people, families, culture, heritage and generations who had no part in the actions of governments or military regimes of the past.
The same principle should apply universally. Celebrating Bangladeshi, Pakistani, Indian or British heritage does not mean endorsing every decision ever made by those countries' governments.
That distinction matters.
And this is where I believe Bedford Borough has something genuinely worth celebrating.
We are fortunate to live in a diverse borough where people from different backgrounds, cultures and traditions live alongside one another. Our diversity is not a problem to be managed. It is one of our greatest strengths.
I want Bedford to be a place where a Bangladeshi family can celebrate Bangladesh's independence, a Pakistani family can celebrate Pakistan's independence, an Indian family can celebrate India's independence, and every other community can proudly celebrate its heritage too.
Not against each other. But alongside each other.
Of course, if councils choose to recognise national independence days, fairness and consistency matter. Every community should feel valued, respected and included.
But inclusion should never become a competition over whose heritage deserves recognition.
We don't build stronger communities by asking people to choose between their identities. We build them by creating space for everyone.
We can remember difficult histories without becoming prisoners of them.
We can honour those who suffered without inheriting their divisions.
We can be proud of where our families came from while embracing the place we all call home.
And we can teach our children that their heritage is something to be proud of, while also teaching them that respect for another person's heritage does not diminish their own.
As someone of Bangladeshi heritage, I can remember the pain of 1971, honour those who lost their lives, celebrate the birth of Bangladesh and still extend friendship and goodwill towards Pakistani people.
There is no contradiction in that.
In fact, I believe that is precisely the kind of example we should be setting.
We cannot change the history our parents and grandparents lived through.
But we can choose whether that history continues to divide the next generation.
I choose unity.
I choose understanding over suspicion, friendship over hostility and community over division.
And I will continue to champion a Bedford Borough where our different cultures are not barriers between us, but threads that make our shared community stronger.
Different heritage. Shared home. One community.
That is the Bedford Borough I am proud to represent. 🇧🇩🇵🇰🇮🇳🇬🇧
