Apparently Gordon (the artful dodger) Brown has declared that Pakistan 'has to do more to root out terrorist elements in its country'. The cheeky sod. It's true that Pakistan has a job to do, but to blame them for a twelve man terrorist cell operating in this country is dodging the ball somewhat. We (when I say we I mean the Home Office) let these men into our country, we gave (according to reports) ten of the twelve man cell student visas. Only one of them attended what has been described as a reputable institution. If that is true, why were the others granted student visas to study at dodgy institutions? Wasn't there a supposed crack down on those services in 2007? No doubt it is still under one of our famous New Labour reviews.Pakistan's High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, Wajid Shamsul Hasan, said in reply to Brown: 'It is at your end you have to do something more. Every day we are raiding people, we are arresting people, we are arresting suspects wherever we find them.'
The Mail online reports Immigration Minister Phil Woolas as having said last week that student visas were: 'the major loophole in Britain's border controls'. Well there is an answer to that isn't there Phil? Either enforce much stricter controls on student visas, or scrap them altogether from countries known to be exporting terrorists.
I think the government is very lucky that no one has come to any harm from these men. They were allowed to come here via what has been described by one of our own ministers as a loophole. It's the government job to close such loopholes to protect the public, not moan about them as if nothing can be done.
