The Pakistani community of Badalona denies WikiLeaks terrorist accusations

Badalona (ACN).- The Pakistani community of Badalona, in the Barcelona metropolitan area, regrets that the U.S. Embassy documents published by WikiLeaks tarnish the community’s image, associating them with radical Islam and terrorism. According to the president of the Islamic centre Camí de la Pau (Path to the Peace), Muhammad Iqbal, “our people have nothing to do with that activity and mentality”. He added that the leaked information published by WikiLeaks is “hard to believe”. “I do not know what sources they have” but Pakistanis living in Catalonia “only wish to live better”, he explained.

The Pakistani community said this on Saturday after leaked documents from the U.S. Embassy in Madrid were published by WikiLeaks. The documents stated that “Spanish and U.S. authorities have identified Catalonia as a major Mediterranean centre of radical Islamist activity”. According to the documents, the U.S. is concerned about the “the effervescent activity of Islamists” in places such as Badalona.

Iqbal denied the allegations that Catalonia is a “magnet for terrorist recruiters”. He also denied that Pakistani and North African immigrants live “on the margin of society”, according to the leaked documents. Using very correct Catalan, he stated that “the only barrier” separating the Islamic Pakistani community from the local population is language. But he added that this is being overcome thanks to emergence of “mixed couples” between immigrants and locals, among others.