On 20 September, the Prime Minister of Pakistan is set to speak with the British Pakistani community in London. It should be a moment to showcase Pakistan’s strengths and connect with one of the country’s most important overseas communities. Instead, PTI’s UK chapter is planning a big protest to overshadow the visit. They say it is patriotism, but the reality feels very different.
PTI-UK often wraps itself in slogans about protecting democracy and fighting for Pakistan’s dignity. But let’s be honest. Shouting at your own government outside embassies in foreign capitals rarely helps the country’s dignity. Those images get picked up by critics who are always looking to paint Pakistan as divided and unstable. Whatever the intent, the result is not pride, it is embarrassment.
The bigger issue is how personal grudges and party rivalries are being sold as if they represent the entire national interest. Pakistan’s problems including economic recovery, international credibility and tackling misinformation are not solved by protests in Hyde Park and even outside the High Commission.
They are certainly not solved by making diaspora events into political battlegrounds. It is hard to see this as anything more than political opportunism, timed deliberately to undercut the Prime Minister’s outreach.
And there is a dangerous side effect. Protests like this feed into the hands of hostile groups who already work overtime to discredit Pakistan in British political circles. Instead of highlighting what Pakistanis abroad contribute their businesses, charity work, and cultural presence the news cycle gets dominated by images of Pakistanis yelling at each other in London. That does not help anyone back home.
There is no iota of doubt that criticism is part of any democracy. Nobody is saying PTI supporters should not have grievances, and they cannot express them. But there is a question of where and how.
Airing domestic disputes on foreign streets does not show strength. It signals weakness, as if Pakistanis cannot resolve differences within their own institutions. Real service to the country is showing respect abroad, even when politics at home is messy.
The British Pakistani community deserves better than to be dragged into these spectacles. It is one of Pakistan’s greatest assets, sending billions in remittances, building businesses that employ thousands, and giving Pakistan a positive image in fields from medicine to politics.
They should be shaping trade ties, funding schools, and lobbying for fairer policies toward Pakistan and not being used as props in a partisan power struggle.
At the end of the day, this protest is a choice. It is a choice between projecting unity or projecting division. Between strengthening Pakistan’s voice in the world or weakening it. PTI-UK may think it is scoring political points, but the bigger question is whether British Pakistanis will let themselves be pulled into a fight that does more harm than good.
Because when the cameras roll on 20 September, the world would not see “brave defenders of democracy”. They will just see Pakistanis fighting Pakistanis, thousands of miles from home. And that is not patriotism.
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are exclusively those of the author and do not reflect the official stance, policies, or perspectives of the Platform.
