60 Pakistani business officials & musicians refused entry to UK

Over 60 Pakistanis from the Lahore pipe band and a trade group have been refused entry to the UK by the UK Border Agency.

The pipe band members were due to attend the World Pipe Band Championships on Saturday in Glasgow, Scotland. This would have been the fifth year running the Pakistan Pipe Band would have attended the competition.

The trade group were due for business talks in the same city but were also rejected. They included members of the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Lahore District Government, all had been due to arrive in city for trade meetings.

The deputy mayor of Lahore was granted a visa.

Hanzala Malik who is the executive member for Glasgow City Council's international affairs, said the decisions had damaged Scotland's reputation and Glasgow had lost out on valuable income.

"The situation is ludicrous and the applications being approved or turned down are simply not consistent, the city has lost out on important meetings and income as a result of this error."

"The Lahore Chamber of Commerce had their applications refused, despite the British High Commissioner in Islamabad saying he was glad the delegation were coming to Glasgow.”

"The deputy mayor of Lahore was the only member of the district government delegation who was allowed entry - even his wife was refused a visa.”

"It's crazy. The pipe band have been here for four of the last championships.”

The Scottish Government would like more powers from Westminister and one of them would be to aprove and rejecy Scotlad's own visa applications. 

Westminster's decisions are sometimes thought not to be the best by some for Scotland especially when it comes to what kinds of foreign workers the UK needs as Scotland doesn't always need what England needs.