Concerns over security of UK citizens visiting Pakistan

THE killings of members of the Yousaf family have prompted questions about the security of British citizens visiting Pakistan.

MEP Sajjad Karim, who said he knew the Yousaf family well, said he would raise the issue when he held talks early next month with the country's prime minister.

Mr Karim will meet Yousuf Raza Gilani, who is attending a Pakistan-EU summit in Brussels in the first week of June.

He said: "I really have to start asking, are British citizens being afforded appropriate protection, and generally speaking the answer is I am not sure they are.

"There has been a growing number of incidents involving people from my constituency recently, including the kidnapping of the boy from Oldham and the murder of a man from Bolton.

"It is too easy for the Foreign Office to give advice not to travel, but we are dealing with communities that still retain lots of links with Pakistan and they have no choice but to go.

"People are obliged to go to weddings, funerals and the like."

He added, though, that the Gujrat region was usually "relatively safe".

The Conservative MEP said he had known Mr Yousaf personally since 1986.