Ontario – Our ‘Cutie’ Trudeau Correspondent: Amongst the many Canadian Muslims celebrating the victory of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is Pakistani-origin Ontario area trucking company owner Omer Siddique.
Having shifted to Canada from Jhang, Pakistan, about thirteen years ago, Siddique was a supporter of the Ahl-e-Sunnat Wal Jamaat (formerly known as the Sipah-e-Sahaba).
“I voted for Maulana Azam Tariq, on whose crucial vote Zafarullah Jamali became the PM in 2002,” he says proudly. “But since then I have gone more mainstream and vote for the Jamaat-e-Islami instead.”
“I vote for the Liberal party in Canada because they protect the interest of minorities, which is something I care very deeply about,” he added.
Fayaz-ul-Hassan, his next door neighbour, a member of the MQM’s Canada chapter, also voted for the Liberals.
“We like the Liberal party because they are very welcoming towards refugees fleeing from conflict areas,” said the Karachi native, who had visited his hometown last year and had delivered a fiery speech at an MQM corner meeting about the dangerous swelling of the city’s Pashtun population.
The feeling also extends to Indian expats, like Sunil Mehra, a Toronto-based property developer, who was the single largest Canadian donor to the BJP campaign in the Indian elections last year. “We like the Liberal party because of its secular credentials.”
