Nirj Deva MEP: Who really governs Europe? Early challenges for the European Conservatives and Reformist Group

Nirj Deva has been an MEP for South East England since 1999

The European Union, first established as the EEC in Jan 1958 comprises of three separate but interdependent institutions. First the European Commission - the super civil service of the European Union; second, the legislative lower House called the European Council representing the Ministers of the 27 Member States and third, the legislative Senate of the EU – called the European Parliament, a body directly elected according to party lines which purports to represent the interests of the 500 million people of Europe. 

I was recently elected for a third term in the European Parliament and, like all British MEPs, was elected from a closed party list system which still, after ten years, bewilders even the most dedicated of voters. My South East of England constituency – the unwieldy yet nevertheless beautiful creation of Tony Blair’s first government - is larger than all but twelve of America’s fifty states and roughly the same size as Israel.

Nirj Deva: Western governments have blood on their hands today

Nirj Deva, MEP for the South East and Conservative spokesman for Development in the European Parliament, argues that Western governments are partly responsible for Benazir Bhutto's death and warns of the danger of Pakistan having nuclear weapons.

Minutes after the murder of my friend Benazir Bhutto, George W Bush and Gordon Brown issued carefully-worded statements in which they praised her “bravery” and “immense personal courage”.  Whilst their sentiments must surely be appreciated by everyone who knew and respected her, one has to ask why her killing was even possible.  The answer, painfully, is all too simple. 

Despite their lofty words in praise of her memory, the uncomfortable truth is that western governments have consistently underestimated the dastardly and stealthy role the military regime in Pakistan has consistently played in perpetuating Islamic terrorism, both inside the country and in the wider international community.

Through their collective failure to crack down on the extremism that is Pervez Musharraf’s dictatorship, Western governments have not just Benazir Bhutto’s blood on their hands today, but that of scores of civilians who have died in terrorist attacks around the world.

In September 2001, the World Trade Centre in New York was blown up by Al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden. Where were the Al Qaeda training camps?  In Afghanistan, close to the border with Pakistan. Where did Bin Laden flee to hide?  In Waziristan, again on the borders of Musharraf's Pakistan. From where did the militant Taliban come time and time again to Afghanistan to kill British and American soldiers?  From Musharraf's Pakistan.

Who was supplying the arms and material to the Taliban?  Musharraf’s Intelligence Services.  Where did the British-born Islamic Jihadist fly to be trained to blow up London’s buses and tubes? In Musharraf's Pakistan.  Which country has the largest number of students being taught Islamic Jihadism in special Madrassa schools?  Musharraf's Pakistan. Who gave the secrets of how to make a nuclear bomb to the North Koreans, the Libyans and other rogue states thereby endangering the whole world as never before?  Musharraf's top scientist AK Khan. Who visited Bin Laden before 9/11 and offered him the technology to build nuclear weapons? Sultan Bashiruddin Mahmood, Musharraf's personally-appointed Director General of the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission.  Which military dictatorship clandestinely built and tested nuclear bombs and developed the missiles to deliver them in violating the non-proliferation treaty?  Musharraf's Government.